UK-based consumer bank Standard Chartered has joined the Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral payment network, to enable cross-border payments for its corporate clients.
The bank is offering the new capability initially for the clients of Standard Chartered Singapore, with more entities to be added to the network in the coming few months.
Standard Chartered said that the new capability will expand its existing suite of payment solutions with a focus on faster and more cost-effective B2B transactions across borders.
Standard Chartered Cash global head Philip Panaino said: “We are delighted to build on our existing partnership with Visa to deliver this innovative and future-ready cross-border payment network offering to our clients.
“We will join as a participant bank and as Visa’s new settlement partner for a set of currencies. In today’s increasingly interconnected world, both corporates and payment networks are constantly looking for solutions and partners that can help them simplify cross-border transactions and improve operational efficiencies, without compromising on security.
“Our engagement in the Visa B2B Connect network, both as a participant and as a settlement bank, is yet another way we are delivering value add to the broader ecosystem as we support corporates on their payments journey.”
Standard Chartered, through application programming interface (API) connectivity with the Visa B2B Connect network, will directly channel the transactions to Visa for further processing.
The process removes multiple intermediaries and the associated costs and delays.
Visa B2B Connect is built upon Visa’s extensive global network and offers multilateral connectivity to all network members through a single connection.
Its capabilities would help address the needs of corporates that are actively looking to achieve rapid, more secure, and more efficient cross-border payments.
Visa senior vice president Visa B2B Connect global head Ben Ellis said: “Visa is committed to modernising cross-border payments around the world and the collaboration with Standard Chartered will extend our network even further.
“We are excited to be partnering with Standard Chartered to simplify and speed up transactions for their clients, cutting out middlemen and reducing costs for a more efficient and secure way to move money globally.”
Furthermore, Standard Chartered will serve as one of Visa’s settlement partners within the network and will facilitate settlement accounts, funds movement and FX capabilities for Visa.
In a separate development, the bank has launched its new Open Banking Marketplace, a platform that enables clients to discover, identify, and test APIs in a sandbox environment.
The Open Banking Marketplace builds on an earlier iteration of its aXess platform launched in 2019, which was part of a broader initiative to boost open banking capabilities.
