TRENDING: The Role Of APIs In Igniting LATAM B2B X-Border Payments

From China to Italy and from India to Colombia, companies around the world are investing in new B2B payments solutions.

And they are doing so through open source APIs that drive efficiency, help cut down payments friction and reduce transaction times.

In the February B2B API TrackerTM, PYMNTS takes a look at the latest news from around the B2B API world, including newly debuted solutions designed to make payments processing easier and faster in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Around the B2B API World

B2B APIs are becoming a global phenomenon, with companies worldwide working to eliminate common pain points that plague cross-border transactions.

In China, UnionPay debuted a new API that will connect the Yiwu Market website to UnionPay International’s online B2B payments platform. With the new integration in place, companies around the globe can use UnionPay cards issued overseas to make purchases.

Meanwhile, in India, Visa partnered with B2B payments provider PayMate as part of an effort to improve digital offerings for corporate clients in the country. Under the terms of the new partnership, the pair will work to provide small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and other customers with a B2B payment platform to assist them in automating otherwise manual payment processes.

And further west, in Italy, UniCredit Banca debuted a new real-time, cross-border payments solution aligned with the European Union’s SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme (SCT Inst). The financial institution (FI) deployed the offering to facilitate real-time payments between Italy and Germany, with the first transaction completed in just 2.5 seconds.

To catch up on the rest of the latest headlines from around the B2B API world, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.

Channeling APIs for eCommerce in LatAm

Meanwhile, in Latin America, a booming eCommerce sector is inviting its fair share of new challenges. Often, eCommerce merchants need to pay a host of parties once they receive payment from a customer, including suppliers, shippers and distributors.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Kevin Fox, executive vice president at FinTech solution provider NovoPayment, said open-sourced APIs are a promising solution for players in the Latin American market that are struggling to cope with their payment workflows despite recent financial tech advancements.

“Many financial institutions in Latin America have trouble innovating and advancing their digital agendas,” Fox said. “Many of them have [a] siloed infrastructure, legacy systems [or] their products are disparate. Combine all that and, as a result, they have a lot of inflexibility in offering digital solutions to the market.”

To read the story, along with the latest B2B API headlines and trends, and for rankings of more than 40 top providers, download the Tracker.

About the Tracker

The PYMNTS.com B2B API Tracker, a FI.SPAN collaboration, serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the segments that comprise the B2B API ecosystem.