- Ripple partner Nium and Cebuana Lhuilliers launch RippleNet based app Quikz in Singapore.
- Cebuana Lhuilliers has around 2,500 branches in the Philippines and aims to drive financial inclusion for every Filipino.
Ripple has just won another productive customer for its RippleNet. As announced a few hours ago, established Philippine financial services provider Cebuana Lhuillier and Ripple partner NIUM Pte. Ltd. have teamed up to release a mobile remittance solution for Singapore based on RippleNet.
The result is Quikz, a remittance service that now targets users in Singapore in addition to the Philippine market. CryptoEri first reported the news via Twitter:
Hot off the Press from Singapore >Quikz a new remittance service provided by Ripple’s #XRP ODL user NIUM, lets users send money to another Ripple Partner Cebuana Lhuillier ~ with 2500 branches all over the Philippines.
Ripple partner Nium develops the RippleNet based solution
As known, Nium is a long-time partner of Ripple, based in Singapore, using the XRP-based On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) payment solution. Nium uses RippleNet for numerous corridors from North and South America to a number of destinations in Southeast Asia. Cebuana Lhuilliers will now benefit from Nium’s experience by making Quikz available in Singapore.
To do so, the Philippine company will use Nium’s Remittance-as-a-Service (RaaS) solution. However, it was not disclosed whether Cebuana Lhuillier will use ODL and the XRP token. The announcement simply states that the solution will be based on the RippleNet blockchain technology:
Cebuana Lhuillier will leverage on Nium’s global network and digital capabilities, additionally, the transactions also run on RippleNet’s blockchain technology, enabling users to send funds back home at a low financial exchange rate and lower fees. Recipients in the Philippines will be able to receive the money at more than 2,500 branches located across the Philippines.
For Jean Henri Lhuillier, president and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier, the expansion of Quikz in Singapore is a sign of the company’s commitment to financial inclusion for every Filipino, regardless of their location.
Cebuana Lhuillier’s core of Financial Inclusion always pushes us to provide better micro-financial services to Filipinos, wherever they may be. This new partnership with Nium strengthens our remittance services to ensure that Filipinos around the world have access to fast, reliable, and safe transactions.
Yogesh Sangle, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Consumer and SME Business at Nium, said:
With millions of Filipinos living and working overseas for their loved ones back home, the convenience and transparency in remittance processes play such an essential role – especially with continued social distancing measures and lockdowns in place. We are extremely excited that Cebuana Lhuillier, a home-grown Filipino brand, shares a common goal with Nium, and we are proud to co-establish and power this new platform through our enhanced remittance capabilities
Southeast Asia remains a good place to be for Ripple
As CNF reported, the Philippines is a very interesting market for the adaptation of Ripple’s payment technologies, as it is one of the leading remittance markets in the world. In 2019, an estimated 12 million Filipinos worked abroad, representing one-tenth of the country’s population.
With this in mind, Ripple’s head of Southeast Asia, Kelvin Lee, announced in August that On-Demand Liquidity will find further adoption in the country as it shows increasing interest in electronic payments. According to Lee, half of Ripple’s customers are from the Asia-Pacific region, with the Philippines being one of Ripple’s top remittance destinations.