News

Visa, FIS partner to provide cross-border B2B payments

April 26, 2019

Visa Inc. has struck an agreement with Fidelity National Information Services Inc. to allow commercial financial institution clients of FIS to access the Visa B2B Connect platform, a distributed ledger system that expedites settlement of large-ticket, cross-border payments, according to a company press release.

The integration of FIS payments technology with the Visa B2B Connect solution will enable the companies' mutual banking clients to transfer corporate client funds among one another, removing the friction usually associated with this type of transaction. A custom integration model developed by FIS will  reduce the need for clients to make upgrades to their systems in order to take advantage of the platform, according to the release. 

"FIS is excited to partner with Visa to enable financial institutions to connect to this groundbreaking new payments service," Raja Gopalakrishnan, international head of banking and payments for FIS Global Financial Solutions, said in the release." The combination of FIS' global customer base and leadership in commercial payments and Visa's extensive experience as a payments processing network creates a strong partnership for adding value to the multinational commercial value chain."

Kevin Phalen, global head of Visa Business Solutions, said that innovation in cross-border B2B payments is long overdue.

"Visa's core strategy is to help clients and partners drastically improve their customer's friction-filled experiences," he said.

The system is in the final phase of pilot testing and will launch within the quarter, the release said.