Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) today announced the commercial launch of the Visa B2B
Connect network, giving financial institutions an ability to quickly and
securely process high-value corporate cross-border payments globally.1
The Visa B2B Connect launch will cover more than 30 global trade
corridors, with an aim to expand to as many as 90 markets by end of 2019.
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Visa B2B Connect (Graphic: Business Wire)
“Launching Visa B2B Connect marks an important industry milestone which
will accelerate the evolution of how commercial payments move around the
world,” said Kevin Phalen, SVP, global head of Visa Business Solutions.
“By creating a solution that facilitates direct, bank to bank
transactions, we are eliminating friction associated with key industry
pain points. With Visa B2B Connect, we are making payments quicker and
simpler, while enhancing transparency and consistency of data.”
Visa B2B Connect removes friction and time spent on cross-border
corporate transactions by facilitating transactions from the bank of
origin directly to the beneficiary bank. The network’s unique digital
identity feature tokenizes an organization’s sensitive business
information, such as banking details and account numbers, giving them a
unique identifier that can be used to facilitate transactions on the
network. Visa B2B Connect’s digital identity feature will transform the
way information is exchanged in business-to-business cross-border
transactions.
“It’s exciting to see the hard work of the combined teams come together
for the commercial launch of Visa B2B Connect. Having participated in
the pilot program, Commerce Bank is excited to see how this innovative
solution will change the way cross-border payments are made, while
increasing the speed and transparency for businesses around the world,”
said Brian Gordon, SVP International Payments and Trade, Commerce Bank.
“As a pilot participant, we are excited about the Visa B2B Connect
launch. This modern way of carrying out cross-border B2B payments will
create a substantial added value for our corporate clients. Velocity,
security and control of transactions, as well as lower counterparty
risks are essential for a successful business with international
partners,” said Alessandro Seralvo, director Cornèrcard & executive vice
president Cornèr Bank.
Partners, including Bottomline, FIS and IBM are integral parts of the
future scale of Visa B2B Connect. Bottomline and FIS are bringing Visa
B2B Connect platform access to its participating bank clients. Along
with Visa’s core assets, Visa B2B Connect utilizes open source
Hyperledger Fabric framework from the Linux Foundation, in partnership
with IBM. This helps provide an improved process to facilitate financial
transactions on a scalable, permissioned network.
“Bottomline is delighted to be working with Visa to accelerate the
adoption of innovative ways for businesses to make faster cross-border
payments,” said Rob Eberle, president & CEO, Bottomline. “Our ability to
provide our mutual financial institution clients globally with access to
Visa B2B Connect will help these banks to continue to deliver
differentiated payment capabilities to their corporate customers.”
“Enabling modernization for financial institutions across all payments
systems is a key tenet of FIS’ global strategy, and we’re glad to be
amongst Visa’s first partners to bring Visa B2B Connect platform access
to our mutual clients at scale,” said Raja Gopalakrishnan, international
head of Banking and Payments for FIS Global Financial Solutions.
“Working together on Visa B2B Connect, we are combining the strengths of
the world’s leader in electronic payments with IBM’s recognized
expertise in helping scale distributed ledger technology. This is a
unique example of how blockchain-based architecture can help transform
B2B value chains by facilitating secure and transparent transactions
globally,” said Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM Blockchain.
“With Visa B2B Connect, we are leveraging Visa’s existing assets and our
expertise in cybersecurity, data privacy, the scale of our network – and
layering that with new elements of distributed-ledger technology to meet
unique needs of this industry,” said Sam Hamilton, SVP, data product
development at Visa. “This lays the foundation for a service with the
potential to transform cross-border payments.”
To learn more about Visa B2B Connect, please visit www.visa.com/visab2bconnect
or contact the team at VisaB2BConnect@visa.com.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our
mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable
and secure payment network – enabling individuals, businesses and
economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet,
provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable
of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The
company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid
growth of digital commerce on any device, for everyone, everywhere. As
the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand,
products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce.
For more information, visit About
Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.
1 Availability varies by country
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190611005296/en/