In an announcement from Visa which we picked up at Finextra, the payments company has launched an expanded version of Visa Direct platform that allows for additional use cases, including x-border disbursements.
We recently covered the B2B faster payments space for the U.S. market in member research and mentioned Visa Direct as one of the growing alternatives for B2B cases, and in the release specified business–to-small business as one of the target constituencies for using the service.
‘The Visa Direct Payouts APIs are designed to reduce the complexities often associated with managing and sending money across multiple networks and intermediaries worldwide….Users can move money globally through a single connection to VisaNet, enabling financial institutions, fintechs, remittance providers and corporate banks to capture new payment flows, says Visa….The system supports real-time domestic and cross-border person-to-person, business-to-small business and business-to-consumer use cases, such as insurance disbursements, marketplace seller payouts, providing workers faster access to their earnings, as well as remittances.’
We have not received a detailed briefly on the platform enhancements but it seems likely that it involves further integration with the Earthport capabilities, which Visa acquired back in 2019. Since Visa’s B2B Connect platform is more targeted for high value B2B, we expect that the new Visa Direct B2B cases are more high velocity and low value, which is more what payouts and remittances are in the first place.
‘Bill Sheley, SVP, global head, Visa Direct, says: “As digital commerce accelerates, Visa is innovating to give financial institutions, governments, individuals and businesses new ways to pay and get paid beyond the card….”The launch of Visa Direct Payouts marks an important milestone in Visa’s expansion of its account-to-account capabilities to now reach an additional 2 billion bank accounts around the world.” ‘
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group