PNC Completes First Cross-Border Payment via RippleNet 

PNC Financial Services Group, Inc, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based bank holding corporation has successfully processed its first cross-border payments for clients’ using Ripple’s blockchain solution, RippleNet, according to a Fintech Futures report on August 29, 2019.

PNC Joins DLT Bandwagon

Per sources close to the development, PNC Treasury Management has become the first U.S. bank to facilitate lightning-fast cross-border payments for clients with RippleNet.

Thanks to distributed ledger technology (DLT), PNC says its institutional clients can now receive payments for goods and services from their overseas customers instantly, in a secure and cost-efficient manner.

This way, these merchants will now be able to manage their global account receivables, as well as their working capital better. 

Founded in 1845 and became fully operational in January 1852, PNC operates an impressive 2,459 branches and nearly 10,000 ATMs across the globe.

With total assets worth nearly $400 billion and 52,906 employees, PNC is the 9th largest bank in the United States by assets and one of the biggest financial institutions globally.

The RippleNet Advantage 

For those who are unaware, RippleNet is a global payments network developed by Ripple, a San Francisco-based financial technology (fintech) firm in charge of XRP (XRP), to enable financial institutions to easily connect and transact with more than 200 banks and payment providers worldwide.

As reported by BTCManager earlier in September 2018, PNC joined RippleNet in a bid to leverage the latter’s innovative technology in rendering better payments services to its clients.  

It’s worth noting that PNC has always been dedicated to making life easier for its clients and putting its RippleNet membership at a time when more and more financial institutions across the globe are tapping blockchain technology for faster and cost-efficient payments, is definitely a forward-thinking maneuver. 

Despite being criticized for running a centralized distributed ledger and altcoin against the decentralization ethos of blockchain technology, Ripple has continued to promote DLT adoption via its platform.

In January 2019, BTCManager informed that Ripple had onboarded 13 new clients into its network, including Euro Exim Bank, Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Transpaygo and a host of others. 

On April 28, 2019, reports emerged that Saudi British Bank, a Riyadh-based Saudi joint-stock company in which HSBC Holdings owns a minority stake, had successfully launched a Ripple-powered cross-border payments solution.