The new service is suitable both for global institutions that send commercial payments to beneficiaries in Asia, and for Asia-based institutions whose trade within the region is denominated in US dollars.
BofA Merrill Lynch global transaction services US dollar wire and clearing products head Greg Murray said that in today’s environment, companies making US dollar payments to and within Asia can face hurdles that impact their working capital management.
"With Accelerated Payments to Asia, we have eliminated those issues, providing banks and their customers a much faster settlement process that also offers improved visibility and control over their cash," Murray added.
Leveraging smart routing technology, Accelerated Payments identifies payments and passes them through in-country US dollar clearing systems through a single bank account.
The service uses BofA Merrill Lynch’s global branch network and technology to process the high value payments in the most intelligent and straight-through manner possible.
Currently, the new Accelerated Payments to Asia captures more than 1,000 different Hong Kong and Greater China-based beneficiary banks and branches, and will be expanded over time to incorporate US dollar clearing systems in other Asian markets.
