U.S. Banks Onboards One of Ripple’s Top Partners, an Ex-BBVA Employee: Incoming Integration?

US Bank has recently announced that Derek White, a former executive who worked at the BBVA bank, has been hired by the company and will now integrate its team. BBVA is notoriously a partner of Ripple, the company that created the XRP tokens and services like xCurrent, xVia and xRapid.

Now, some people in the crypto world are wondering whether this means that there is an upcoming integration between Ripple and US Bank or not.

White Will Be The New Lead Of The US Bank’s Digital Team

Part of the reason why people are so interested is because White is being hired for a prestigious position at his new company: he will be the leader of the digital team of the bank.

During the official announcement, which happened yesterday, April 15, the US Bank affirmed that he was a very experienced leader and that he would be in charge of the innovation in the company on its digital products.

At his new position as the Chief Digital Officer, Derek White will lead the current team and report to the chairman of the US Bank, Andy Cecere, as well as to the board.

We all know that this is a very transformative time for global finances and the blockchain is at the center of this revolution, so bringing someone who already has a strong background in this area seems like a smart move from the bank.

White has plenty of experience in the financial area. In BBVA, he was in charge of the creation and design of the digital products of the company, including the decision to use Ripple’s products. Before he worked there, he spent ten years at Barclays, another high-profile banking institution. He also held several leadership positions there, including being the head of the company’s digital team.

Cecere has affirmed that this development was very important for the goals of the company. According to him, the bank is already focused on improving its technological and digital aspects, but the help of White will make the team even stronger in this scenario.

Derek was described by Cecere as an outstanding leader with a proven track record and a great innovator. Because of all his qualities, he will be very important to provide the best services for the clients, the chairman affirmed.

Appointment Can Be Good For Ripple

Ripple has been having a good time lately when it comes to making important partnerships to push its cross-border transaction products forward. Since White is already familiar with Ripple, he is believed to be a very important figure in order to approximate US Bank and Ripple.

Two years ago, he was very important in connecting BBVA and Ripple, as the partnership basically only happened because of him. Marcus Treacher, the global head of strategic accounts at Ripple, affirmed that he was important for the partnership with BBVA and that the bank was not only experimenting with the blockchain but actively using the services offered by Ripple.

Because of all this, it is expected that White may also be instrumental to use Ripple in US Bank now. The xCurrent solution created by Ripple, for instance, is focused at banks and allow them to make cross-border transactions and to track them end-to-end almost instantly. Its speed and legal clarity made the solution very popular with banks and its use only keeps growing at the time.

Another important product that may be used by the US Bank is xRapid. With this solution, any kind of financial company can make cross-border transactions that will be cheaper than their alternatives and considerably faster.

By using the blockchain technology, banks can seriously upgrade the services that they are currently offering to their clients, so the idea of using this kind of solution is pretty natural. Now we can only wait to see what White will be able to do at his new position and if US Bank will be the next financial institution to use the blockchain tech.