- According to Ripple’s head of global banking, the XRP token could act as a bridge between digital central bank currencies, which themselves lack interoperability.
- She also predicted in a panel discussion with representatives from banks and Microsoft that the trend towards digital currencies will be accelerated by the corona pandemic.
Marjan Delatinne, head of global banking at Ripple, spoke about the digitalization of banking in a panel discussion with representatives from KPMG, Starling Bank, Microsoft and HSBC. Delatinne, who is responsible for communicating with banks at Ripple and ensuring that banks understand Ripple’s technology and the blocchain in general, explained that some of the world’s largest banks are preparing to own and trade digital assets.
Delatinne explained that the banking system with its current infrastructure is way too slow and inefficient in processing cross-border payments. In her experience, banks are beginning to see the value of the blockchain technology. Ripple and its technologies can, as many Ripple customers have already realized, on the one hand reduce operating costs and on the other hand accelerate scaling:
Our contribution to this digital era is building an infrastructure that helps financial institutions get closer to this reality of instant and convenient [payments]. When you look at the aging infrastructure that is in place today in order to transfer money around the world, this is very close to a fossil system. There is a trust established between members of these systems, but you still have a lot of inefficiencies in terms of the cost. […]
Our customer base realizes and recognizes inefficiencies and they look at the blockchain as a technology that can inherently diminish the operational cost and speed up the scale-up to bring new services in competition with established organizations.
Like Navin Gupta, Ripple’s Managing Director for South East Asia, she stressed that the corona pandemic will accelerate the transition to a digital society. The pandemic has significantly reduced the use of cash, Delatinne said:
There are different layers, and the real consequence of Covid-19 is the fact that the use of cash is declining because of health issues. If this trend continues and you need to somehow ship money somewhere, you’re going to see banks are going to have more pressure on them to get to the more digital world, and it’s pushing banks toward this digital world.
She also talked about the ongoing global trend for central banks to examine and test CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies). She explained that some countries are more advanced than others, citing France and the test of the digital euro as prime example. At the same time, she stressed that there needs to be a bridge between the different digital central bank currencies, as they themselves lack interoperability. According to Delatinne, Ripple’s XRP token is predestined for this:
How this will work in terms of interoperability between each of them in the more international worlds, that’s probably going to be the digital currencies like XRP which can play a role in terms of playing a bridge between multiple or different CBDCs. I think these trends will continue and be reinforced in the coming years.
