A Banking as a Service (BaaS) collaboration between Visa and Finastra is set to enhance cross-border payments for small and medium-sized businesses and individuals. The agreement enables Finastra to create a new functionality on its Payments Hub solutions to allow access to, and utilization of, Visa Direct, which in turn provides push to account payment capabilities across the Visa network.
Finastra’s bank clients can integrate with Visa Direct through the company’s FusionFabric.cloud open development platform. It appears to be a win-win as Finastra further builds its Hub capabilities and Visa expands its network uses for payouts.
In a related article released by Payments Dive, Visa is increasing its efforts with B2B and remittances, given the large market that these combined uses account for. Although these estimates often vary widely, Visa’s Chief Financial Officer, Vasant Prabhu, indicated that the B2B ‘cardable’ market is $20 trillion opportunity, whereas remittances are currently an $800 billion market.
We have been tracking the growing B2B strategies of the three major card networks for years so this is nothing new, but it signals the potential growth opportunities, and reinforces the ongoing focus.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group.
