Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) announced on Tuesday the commercial launch of its new B2B Connect network. According to Visa, the platform was created to give financial institutions an ability to quickly and securely process high-value corporate cross-border payments globally. The Visa B2B Connect launch will reportedly cover more than 30 global trade corridors, with an aim to expand to as many as 90 markets by the end of 2019.
“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.”
While sharing more details about the platform, Kevin Phalen, SVP and Global Head of Visa Business Solutions, stated:
“Launching Visa B2B Connect marks an important industry milestone which will accelerate the evolution of how commercial payments move around the world. 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 then explained that its partners Bottomline and FIS are bringing Visa B2B Connect platform access to participating bank clients. Visa added:
“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.”
The launch of the platform comes just one week after Visa announced its partnership with cross-border payment platform CurrencyCloud to drive further innovation in cross-border and travel payments. The partnership will see Currencycloud aligned with Visa’s broader mission to help people make secure and seamless digital payments, both at home and while traveling.