Along with the recently declared Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Hash Wars taking center stage for a countless number of cryptocurrency miners and enthusiasts, it's very easy to have some otherwise weighty developments just slip off the radar by comparison.

This statement is especially true when it comes to one of the significant developments which have happened in terms of being levied for streamlining the process of cross-border transactions.

So what is this news that we otherwise missed? That would be that American Express, Santander, and Ripple have come together and teamed up to help speed up the process behind cross-border payments in the US-UK financial corridor, with the prospect of being used in other areas.

At the moment, many of us are well aware that Santander has been using Ripple's xCurrent system in order to power its One Pay FX payment platform that allows its existing customers in the UK, Spain, Poland and Brazil to conduct instant cross-border payments. When it comes to customers of American Express, the credit card services giant confirmed that it is currently using xCurrent during Money 20/20 event in Amsterdam earlier on in the year.

As a result, it's therefore only natural that the two companies will go on to use Ripple's blockchain network of RippleNet, in order to ease payments taking place between both the US and the United Kingdom. Initially, this service will allow for payments by American Express' business customers based on its FX International Payments (FXIP) to be sourced via the RippleNet in order to make instant traceable cross-border payments to UK-based Santander bank accounts.

The Executive VP and Chief Information Officer at American Express, Marc Gordon, had a number of things to say about the new service:

This collaboration with Ripple and Santander represents the next step forward on our blockchain journey, evolving the way we move money around the world.

Alongside Gordon, Santander's Head of Global Transaction Banking, Jose Luis Calderon, also followed up with this statement:

“This blockchain solution opens up a new channel between the U.S. and the U.K. and presents a significant opportunity for payments globally.”

Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse was also optimistic about the new collaboration:

“We’re taking a huge step forward with American Express and Santander in solving the problems corporate customers experience with global payments. Transfers that used to take days will be completed in real-time, allowing money to move as fast as a business today.”

Ripple's Global Head of Strategic Accounts, Marcus Treacher, made the following series of statements when he underwent an interview with CNBC about the applications of XRP in the future.

“The XRP currency will come into play later on in the evolutionary dynamics and the other players. The technology we have developed, it separated a connection from the cryptocurrency or the token. So what that means is that a bank or non-bank like AMEX can use Ripple to connect and just exchange value from one fiat currency to another directly, without the need for any intermediate blockchain currency.”

Do you have any thoughts about this new partnership between the likes of American Express, Santander and Ripple? Feel free to discuss and let us know!

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