NAIROBI, Kenya, April 20 – Global payment platform, Mastercard has introduced a new tool, the Cross-Border Services Express, that will enable financial institutions to seamlessly set up international payments for consumers and small businesses, to fasten their cross-border payment capabilities.
The service complements Mastercard’s Cross-Border Services offering. It works using a customizable and easy-to-implement digital overlay, while providing additional tools to meet compliance and regulatory requirements.
“It’s our goal to provide choice, access, and transparency for payments across borders,” said Alan Marquard, Executive Vice President, Transfer Solutions at Mastercard.
“With a simple, turn-key integration, Cross-Border Services Express levels the playing field and provides small and mid-tier banks, including credit unions and community banks, with the same international payments features regardless of their size and scale.”
With Mastercard’s Cross-Border Services, participating financial institutions can offer their customers international payments in more than 60 currencies to over 100 markets covering 90 per cent of the world’s population.
The service offers users flexibility in how they pay by delivering funds to bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards, and cash payout locations with full transparency and predictability over transaction status and delivery time.
Mastercard has collaborated with Fable FinTech and Payall Payment Systems to deliver this market solution through a seamless user interface that meets customers’ increasing expectations for digital experiences.
According to Mastercard’s 2022 Borderless Payments Report, digital payments are seeing strong growth with three-quarters of consumers who send and receive cross-border payments doing so through mobile apps.
Even so, the report noted that many challenges still exist around transparency and costs.
Additionally, 39 per cent of SME respondents said that cross-border payments slow their supply chain and one quarter reported that suppliers had refused to work with them because of uncertainty over payment times.
“For small and medium enterprises, it’s important to keep money flowing,” said Jane Prokop, Executive Vice President, Small and Medium Enterprises at Mastercard.
“Cross-Border Services Express will enable financial institutions to meet SMEs’ needs for an efficient and digital cross-border payments solution they can count on to pay employees, suppliers, and partners fast and with full predictability.”
