British payments firm to expand Latin American business with RippleNet

The British payments company Paydek is leveraging technology from fintech firm Ripple to speed up cross-border transfers to Latin American countries.

Excited to continue @Ripple’s momentum in EMEA with new customers and connections, as Paydek brings real-time payments to freelance and on-demand workers in LATAM and Africa! https://t.co/rrx9smZm2f

— Sendi Young (@sendiyoung) September 16, 2021

According to the press release, the company’s clients are freelancers and independent contractors. The market is expected to reach $455 billion in the next two years.

Paydek noted that with existing payment systems, contractors have to wait several days for payment. Using Ripple’s digital technologies, employers and settlement companies make payments in real time.

Paydek already uses the RippleNet network for transfers to Africa. Now, in partnership with Localpayment, it will deploy the solution to expand its business in Latin America.

“Ripple, through Paydek, is strengthening its presence in Africa and Latin America to spur innovation in digital remittances in regions where fast payments are often vital to people’s livelihoods,” commented Sandy Young, Managing Director of RippleNet Europe.

In Africa, Paydek supports nine currencies: West African CFA franc (XOF), Central African CFA franc (XAF), Sierra Leonean leone (SLL), Kenyan shilling (KES), Rwandan franc (RWF), Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Ghanaian cedi (GHS), Ugandan shilling (UGX) and South African rand (ZAR).

In Latin America, the firm will initially offer payments in Mexican pesos (MXN), Argentine pesos (ARS), Colombia (CLP) and Uruguayan pesos (UYU).

As reported earlier, in March 2021 Ripple ceased its cooperation with MoneyGram, which used the firm’s solutions for money transfers from the United States to Mexico. Ripple had previously acquired a stake in the partner company.

The split occurred shortly after a lawsuit was filed by the SEC, which accused it of selling unregistered securities worth $1.3 billion.