Digital money transfer service Azimo, in partnership with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Thailand’s leading universal banks, is launching instant cross-border payments from Europe to Thailand. This new connection was made possible through RippleNet, Ripple’s global payments network, according to Ripple Insights.

Digital payments are playing an increasingly critical role in enabling people to send money home to loved ones, especially in low- and middle-income countries, where the need for instant, affordable transactions are more crucial than ever, Ripple says.

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According to the World Bank, Thailand is one of the top remittance destinations globally, with $6.7 billion received from abroad each year. It is also one of the most expensive countries to send and receive money.

“The high cost and slow cross-border payments experience today leaves remitters with few options, providing an opportunity for global financial institutions to build differentiated value propositions in this market and deliver an improved customer service experience,” Ripple said.

It explains that connections like this help solve the challenges of expensive and unreliable global payments.

Before, remittances from Europe into Thailand averaged more than one business day to settle. Now, through the RippleNet connection with SCB, Azimo can clear Pounds and Euros into Thai Baht in less than a minute, according to the firm.

Instant payment

“More and more countries are going to instant payment,” said Azimo co-Founder and Executive Chairman Michael Kent. “Thailand recently launched their instant payment network, and this partnership with the largest bank in the country allows us to get the time to settle payments down from around 24 hours to an average of 22 seconds. [It’s] faster to send money to Thailand than to someone else in Europe”.

This news comes on the heels of Ripple’s recent announcement of Azimo’s launch of RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, as part of their remittance capabilities into the Philippines.

This global payment network removes the decades-long pain of cross-border payments.

“People can’t and shouldn’t wait days or even weeks to receive payments from loved ones. RippleNet and ODL are allowing financial institutions to process global payments at unprecedented speed, changing the status quo. By making new connections and expanding services like Azimo’s partnership with SCB, Ripple customers are able to deliver the best experience in cross-border payments today,” the firm concluded.