Mastercard and Remitly to expand access to cross-border payments

Mastercard and Remitly Global have joined forces to expand access to cross-border payments and remittances. Remitly will integrate Mastercard’s Send and Cross-Border Services to offer its customers more choice in how they securely send money abroad via the Remitly app.

Convenient and secure access to remittances serves as a lifeline for many. According to Mastercard’s upcoming 2023 Borderless Payments Report, 41% of consumers who have made cross-border payments in the past 12 months intend to increase the frequency of their cross-border transactions over the next year to provide critical financial support for family and friends overseas. Further, in a November 2022 survey of approximately 2,000 remittance senders conducted by Remitly, 34% of respondents said that money sent home is the primary source of income for their recipient’s household. Remitly and Mastercard say they are committed to improving the transparency, convenience, and speed of delivering these critical funds to Remitly’s customers’ families and loved ones.

Backed by the speed and reach of the Mastercard network, Mastercard Send enables US-based Remitly customers to fund transactions via their debit card. Remitly has also integrated Mastercard Cross-Border Services to offer customers more choice in how recipients can access their funds through a variety of disbursement options within Mastercard’s global network, such as bank accounts, cash pick-up locations, and mobile wallets.

 

Trulioo to support J.P. Morgan Payments’ global identity verification services

J.P. Morgan Payments has selected the Trulioo global identity platform to help its clients combat fraud and other financial crimes. As part of the agreement, J.P. Morgan Payments will leverage Trulioo services for global person and business verification.

“We chose the platform because of its breadth of personally identifiable data sources, impressive match rates and global footprint,” said Ryan Schmiedl, Managing Director – Global Head of Trust & Safety for J.P. Morgan Payments. “Trulioo has the trusted authentication and verification experience we want to offer clients and additional layers of protection from fraud during the onboarding experience and beyond.”  

J.P. Morgan invests over US$12bn a year in its own technology and products. Its Trust & Safety solutions are designed to validate users’ accounts and boost their defence proactively for all end-to-end payments, meaning clients can help protect against fraud, improper payments and cybercrimes that are on the rise as our payment options rapidly evolve. The partnership will enable the bank to provide capabilities for consumer and business verification, including Trulioo’s Person Match and Identity Document Verification.

 

Modern Treasury joins U.S. Bank payments network

Modern Treasury has announced that it is joining the U.S. Bank Connected Partnership Network. For joint customers of U.S. Bank and Modern Treasury, the network is designed to make it easier to connect, embed, and deliver new payment experiences.

The U.S. Bank Connected Partnership Network aims to help corporate treasury teams easily identify and adopt technology already connected with the bank. Using integrated network partners can help businesses reduce the time and resources needed to implement treasury management services.

“The aim of the Connected Partnership Network is to make it seamless for companies to connect to U.S. Bank and remove friction from the payment experience,” said Anu Somani, head of global payables and embedded payments, U.S. Bank. “With the Network, clients can connect U.S. Bank payments within their own systems, avoiding the need to use numerous platforms.”

 

Citi and Navan launch travel and expense system 

Citi and Navan have announced the launch of a jointly branded travel and expense system designed for Citi Commercial Bank (CCB) cardholders. The strategic agreement, which combines Navan’s all-in-one solution and Citi's commercial card solutions, leverages the card-link technology of Navan Connect to create a seamless digital experience for cardholders. The system will initially be available only to US-based Citi clients.

Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business is collaborating with Citi Commercial Bank to deliver a differentiated offering for Citi’s mid-market clients. The bank says this new solution is complementary to Citi’s existing product offering, which includes solutions for payments, receivables, liquidity management, foreign exchange and trade.

“Citi and Navan are now well-positioned to deliver a more efficient way to manage travel and expense programs, with a platform that’s easy to use for both travellers and finance teams, while aiming to alleviate the challenges that sometimes come with expense reporting for cardholders,” commented Gonca Latif-Schmitt, Global Head of Citi’s Commercial Cards. “This collaboration provides an opportunity for Citi to grow its Commercial Cards business by partnering with our Commercial Bank, while also offering travel booking and expense management technology.” 

 

Fiserv streamlines access to core platform APIs

Fiserv has streamlined access to its core banking APIs in a move designed to accelerate innovation across the industry. Third-party developers now have instant access to collaborative workspaces through Banking Hub, a single location to access Fiserv banking APIs within its Developer Studio. Over 500 developers from fintechs, payfacs, merchants, major brands and system integrators already have begun using a workspace to co-develop unique use cases.

“Instant self-service integration tools address developers’ need to efficiently test live banking APIs and streamline the path to bring next-generation banking solutions to market,” said Tom Eck, senior vice president of Digital Technology at Fiserv. “This launch is part of our broader strategy to make it faster and easier for financial institutions, fintechs and merchants to connect with each other and work together to launch unique initiatives that enhance customer relationships and expand revenue opportunities.”

Banking Hub accelerates and streamlines the path for fintechs to build, test, certify and deploy pre-integrated apps in AppMarket, a marketplace for Fiserv financial institution clients to access third-party innovations, or to embed a range of financial services into their customer experience. Banking Hub provides development teams an organised space to collaborate and manage projects with multiple workflows. Developers can explore how Fiserv core banking APIs can support banking as-a-service (BaaS), allowing them to launch new digital experiences and expanding financial institution access to a broad range of third-party fintech solutions.

 

Zuora and Sovos look to help global businesses meet e-invoicing mandates

Zuora and Sovos have partnered to help global businesses meet electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) mandates directly through Zuora. As tax reform becomes more extensive around the world, numerous countries have adopted or are planning adoption of global e-invoicing mandates. But companies often struggle to comply with fast-approaching standards, as requirements vary by country and mandate timelines differ. Those that fail to meet government requirements can face regulatory fees and consequences, including potential lost revenue if they lose approval or licensure to conduct business in certain regions. 

In partnership with Sovos, Zuora now provides a pre-integrated, automated e-invoicing solution that works directly with its recurring billing. As part of this partnership, Zuora also joins the Sovos Certified Compliance Program, which enables transaction management platforms providers to leverage Sovos’ e-invoicing compliance portfolio through certified integrations to solve customer compliance requirements wherever they are. 

“By streamlining the process to meet e-invoicing mandates, Zuora’s partnership with Sovos will enable companies to focus on global expansion and driving recurring growth,” said Balaji Subramanian, Vice President, Global Partner Ecosystem at Zuora. “Now with Zuora, modern businesses can leverage critical data already available in their modern billing system to reduce complexity and meet e-invoicing mandates with one solution.”

 

Conduent software solution targets hidden working capital

Conduent Incorporated has announced its latest finance, accounting and procurement software solution, FastCap Finance Analytics. The technology platform is designed to uncover hidden working capital, which frees up cash for operations, improves financial security and supports growth.

A statement from the software provider notes that finance teams are challenged to pinpoint cash leakage because their technology is often fragmented across multiple accounts payable platforms. Teams have limited use of process automation tools and lack accurate and timely analytics and reporting.

In 12 months, across 17 clients, Conduent says that FastCap has delivered US$69m in cost savings through recoveries, optimising the supply base and improving contract compliance by 33%. The solution’s tools have prevented more than US$15m in erroneous payments missed by ERP system controls. 

 

RMB retains fifth place among most active global payments currencies

Swift’s RMB Tracker has shown that in September 2023, the RMB retained its position as the fifth most active currency for global payments by value, with a share of 3.71%. Overall, RMB payments value increased by 2.77% compared to August 2023, while in general, all payments currencies decreased by 3.96%. Regarding international payments, excluding payments within the Eurozone, the RMB ranked sixth with a share of 2.73% in September.

The tracker uses data from live and delivered MT 103 and MT 202 - customer-initiated and institutional payments - and ISO equivalent messages exchanged on Swift. RMB’s fifth place out of all international currencies in September saw it behind the US dollar (46.58% of all global payments value), the euro (23.60%), the British pound (7.32%) and the Japanese yen (4.20%).

As a global currency in the trade finance market, based on live and delivered inter-group only MT 400 and MT 700 messages exchanged on SWIFT, RMB ranked second based on value, accounting for 5.80% of September’s trade finance transactions, overtaking the euro (5.43%). This field remains dominated by the US dollar (84.15%).

Regarding FX spot transactions, RMB was September’s fifth most used currency for FX confirmations, dropping below the yen. The US dollar was the most used, followed by the euro and pound. In terms of the top economies carrying out FX spot transactions in RMB, the UK came out on top in September (40.84%), followed by the US (15.36%), Hong Kong (9.37%), France (7.45%) and China (6.37%).