In a significant development for the financial sector, Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) has unveiled its latest innovation, the XUNO cross-border Request to Pay (r2px). This feature, now part of NCHL’s connectIPS platform, marks a pivotal step in facilitating seamless financial transactions between Nepal and the United States. By integrating r2px, NCHL establishes itself as the pioneer in incorporating a cross-border payment request module directly into a national payment infrastructure. This move not only connects all national member banks in Nepal to the XUNO neo-banking network in the US but also introduces a reverse remittance feature that is a first in the industry.
Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, CEO of NCHL, highlighted the challenges faced by banks across borders due to the lack of real-time communication. He emphasized that such barriers have restricted global economic participation. The partnership with XUNO aims to empower beneficiaries by enabling them to initiate payment requests for real-time remittance into their Nepali bank accounts through connectIPS. This innovative approach seeks to eliminate existing frictions and foster a more inclusive cross-border payment ecosystem.
Bal Krishna Joshi, Founder of XUNO, expressed enthusiasm over the collaboration with NCHL. He praised NCHL’s leadership for adopting this revolutionary solution that propels Nepal towards a borderless economy. Joshi underscored XUNO’s commitment to transforming the payments and banking landscape through state-of-the-art technology.
The r2px feature addresses several critical issues plaguing cross-border transactions. It ensures compliance and visibility by implementing an elaborate messaging protocol that covers jurisdictional compliance, detailed KYC, AML checks, and sanction checks of beneficiaries while providing visibility of receiving accounts. Furthermore, r2px significantly reduces transaction costs by facilitating direct communication between financial institutions, thereby eliminating intermediaries. The beneficiary-first approach simplifies the process of creating payment requests, enhancing customer experience. Beneficiaries can easily generate digital payment requests using their connectIPS accounts and receive funds directly into their bank accounts. Both senders and beneficiaries benefit from real-time tracking of requests and payment status.
Security is a paramount concern for r2px, which guarantees secure message delivery through the use of a unique primary identifier (PID) or virtual payment address (VPA) alongside robust encryption algorithms. This ensures message authentication and confidentiality.