European money transfer service Azimo is tapping tech from blockchain firm Ripple for its remittance corridor to the Philippines.
Announced Tuesday, Azimo will begin using Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service speed up the transfer of customer's funds. The service will notably utilize the XRP cryptocurrency to move value to the Southeast Asian nation "in seconds," where it is converted into Philippines pesos and passed to recipients.
Remittance firms provide a vital service for the large numbers of Filippino workers abroad looking to send funds back home to their families. The market is a valuable one, hitting a record high of $33.5 billion in 2019, 3.9 percent higher than previous year.
The partnership signals a move by the two companies looking to capture a larger portion of the country's lucrative remittance market – the fourth largest globally, according to World Bank figures.
In addition, Ripple says ODL has the potential to reduce liquidity costs when compared to traditional banking solutions, which are often slow and costly.
Richard Ambrose, Azimo CEO, said the timing was right for such a partnership as Ripple has been increasing its remittance partnerships, most recently with an Intermex deal earlier in the month.
Ripple also took a $50 million stake in MoneyGram in November, with the remittance platform agreeing to use Ripple's solutions and XRP within its services as part of the deal.
“We’ve been interested for a long time in the potential of digital assets like XRP to make cross-border payments better for customers,” said Ambrose.