Visa B2B Connect Goes Global

Visa and Mastercard each made headlines in the payments infrastructure and cross-border realms, eyeing digital payments and B2B payments.

As reported earlier in the week, Visa launched B2B Connect, a network focused on enabling financial institutions (FIs) to help their clients make B2B payments across borders. As reported, the launch covers 30 markets globally. The transactions between businesses are done on an account-to-account basis, as opposed to using the existing correspondent banking network — which, of course, relies on intermediaries.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Kevin Phalen, head of Global Business Solutions at Visa, told Karen Webster that Visa B2B Connect acts as a brand new, end-to-end global payments network, built on using elements of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the open source Hyperledger Fabric framework hosted by The Linux Foundation.

Phalen said the mindset has been “digital-first” — which means the transactions that flow across Visa B2B Connect use a digital identifier to pass payment instructions. The digital identifier, he elaborated, tokenizes an organization’s sensitive data, including banking details and account numbers. The tokenization helps sidestep the vulnerabilities to fraud that exist when sending checks, ACH and wire transfers.

Visa also said last week that it linked with Currencycloud to focus on cross-border and travel payments. As noted in Retail Dive, the two companies said in a press release that Visa banking and FinTech partners will have the option to use Currencycloud’s cloud-based payments platform. The platform can be leveraged to provide services across multi-currency wallets, and real-time notifications on FX transactions.

“Today, one in five payments is a cross-border transaction, whether that’s from a consumer traveling internationally or buying from an international seller online,” said Charlotte Hogg, CEO of Visa Europe. “Our goal is to continue to help our clients meet this increasing demand for slick, simple and more convenient cross-border payments, and make it easier for Visa cardholders to manage their money when traveling.”

Mastercard, Too

Separately, and beyond the U.S., Payswiff, an omnichannel payment processing and tax compliance solutions provider, has linked with Mastercard to speed digital payments in lower tier cities in India. The Payswiff SET lets individuals and business owners accept payments across a range of options, spanning credit and debit cards, eWallets, ePayment links and Bharat QR.

Beyond the payment network giants, PXP Financial has partnered with Ripple, according to Crowdfund Insider, and is focused on acquiring solutions that are built by merchants for merchants. It has also linked with MoneyNetInt on cross-border payment processing in the U.S. and EU. Through the partnership, with PXP Financial as its acquiring bank, MoneyNetint can now offer major, global credit and debit card processing, and a wide range of alternative payment methods. Those options span vouchers, eWallets, as well as online and offline banking.