Mastercard and Corpay Expand Near Real-Time Payments Partnership

Mastercard is expanding its longtime partnership with corporate payments firm Corpay.

The two companies now allow corporations, small businesses and financial institutions to make near real-time payments to 22 new markets throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, according to a Monday (Sept. 29) press release.

“By expanding our strategic collaboration with Corpay, we’re enabling financial institutions to seamlessly access new markets, optimize their cross-border payment operations, and deliver a superior experience to their customers,” Pratik Khowala, global head of transfer solutions at Mastercard, said in the release. “At the same time, we’re helping companies of all sizes scale internationally, unlocking new growth opportunities with unmatched speed, reach and reliability.”

The expanded partnership is designed to meet a surge in global cross-border payments, which are projected to exceed $250 trillion by 2027 due to international trade, disbursements and peer-to-peer remittances, the release said.

However, even amid this demand, small businesses struggle to deal with cross-border payments, PYMNTS reported in July.

“While digital tools and eCommerce platforms have lowered barriers to finding international customers and suppliers, sending and receiving payments across borders remains fraught with friction,” PYMNTS wrote July 7. “That’s why, for decades, the narrative of global commerce was defined by multinationals and enterprises with deep pockets, dedicated treasury teams, and the infrastructure to handle the complexity of cross-border payments.”

Smaller businesses face burdens that these larger companies do not, including the high fixed costs associated with cross-border payments, as well as settlement times that might stretch from days to a week, often creating working capital pressures and slowing supply chains.

At the same time, the process lacks transparency. A payment sent from one country can vanish into a black box of intermediaries, with limited tracking capability and little recourse in the event of a dispute.

“But the landscape is shifting as FinTech platforms, digital wallets and solutions like stablecoins re-architect the economics and workflows of cross-border payments,” the report said.

In April, Mastercard invested in a 3% stake in Corpay’s cross-border business, with Corpay in turn becoming the exclusive provider of currency risk management and integrated large-ticket cross-border payments solutions to Mastercard’s financial institution customers.

As part of the agreement, Mastercard became the exclusive provider of virtual card programs to Corpay’s customers, who also gained access to Mastercard Move’s cross-border services.

For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.