Jeel and Ripple Join Forces to Revolutionise Saudi Payments with Blockchain

Jeel, the innovation arm of Riyad Bank, has teamed up with US-based fintech firm Ripple to explore how blockchain could quietly reshape parts of Saudi Arabia’s financial services landscape. The idea is simple enough on paper: make payments faster, cheaper and more transparent. The execution, as always, is where it gets interesting.

The partnership will focus heavily on cross-border payments, an area where banks across the region still wrestle with delays and high fees. Anyone who has tried to send money across borders at short notice knows it can be a bit of a faff. That’s where blockchain-based payment corridors come in, and Ripple’s technology is being tested to see if it can genuinely smooth out the process. Beyond payments, the two sides are also looking at digital asset custody and tokenisation, all within the boundaries of regulation, not outside it.

From a bigger-picture view, this collaboration lines up neatly with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals around digital transformation and building a competitive fintech ecosystem. Proofs of concept will be developed inside Jeel’s regulatory sandbox, allowing both companies to try things out in a controlled environment before anything is rolled out more widely. It’s not flashy experimentation for the sake of headlines, but measured steps—probably spot on for a market like this.

George Harrak, CEO of Jeel, said the partnership reflects the company’s strategy of using its sandbox to responsibly explore next-generation financial infrastructure. According to him, combining regulated experimentation with Ripple’s global blockchain experience could help identify scalable use cases, particularly in cross-border payments and digital asset services, that fit the Kingdom’s long-term digital ambitions.

Ripple, for its part, sees Saudi Arabia as fertile ground. Reece Merrick, the company’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, pointed to the Kingdom’s “visionary leadership” in digital transformation, noting that the collaboration is designed to explore secure and efficient blockchain solutions within the national financial architecture. He added that Ripple aims to show how its enterprise-grade technology can unlock efficiencies while supporting Saudi Arabia’s push to become a world-leading fintech hub.

I remember chatting with founders at a fintech meet-up in Riyadh not long ago—one of those evenings Arageek loves to spotlight—where cross-border payments kept coming up as a real pain point, not a theoretical one. That’s why this partnership feels more practical than promotional. I reckon the real test will be whether these pilots translate into everyday banking services people actually notice, rather than tech demos that sit on a shelf.

For Jeel, the deal strengthens its position as a testing ground for regulated blockchain innovation and nudges its role beyond a traditional accelerator. For Ripple, it opens doors into Saudi Arabia’s fast-growing fintech scene and offers a chance to prove its tools can work in a tightly regulated environment. And believe it or not, that regulatory rigor might be the secret sauce here.

All told, it’s a cautious but meaningful step. Not everyone is chuffed to bits about blockchain buzzwords, and I’m not a fan of hype without delivery. Still, if even part of this collaboration delivers faster remittances or clearer custody frameworks, it could quietly set a new benchmark for the region. Whether it does so definately remains the question, well… we’ll see, you know?

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