Mastercard is linking with VoPay to respond to the ever-growing need of moving money seamlessly by making the process more simple and efficient for real-time transactions.
With an initial focus on the Canadian market, the partnership has future aims to offer money transfer solutions across multiple global markets via Mastercard’s combined portfolio of domestic and international payment rails for more reliable and secure transfers.
The strategic partnership looks to innovate by using fast-paced technology and building cutting-edge end-to-end solutions for consumers and scalable businesses.
With the launch of the joint solution in 2024, Canadian businesses and financial institutions will be able to make domestic payouts or disbursements to any enabled debit card or reloadable prepaid card, regardless of the payments network. Additionally, these payments could also be sent directly to the recipient’s bank account leveraging other existing Canadian payment rails.
Ramesh Jayakrishnan, Vice President of New Payment Platforms at Mastercard Canada, said: “There is a growing demand for interoperable technology that allows consumers and businesses to move money seamlessly across networks domestically and internationally.
“By leveraging Mastercard Move, including Mastercard’s technology and connectivity to global and domestic networks, VoPay, with its focus on providing a globally interoperable platform with embedded finance capabilities, will deliver significant value to Canadian consumers, businesses and government entities.”
The partnership focuses on three key pillars to achieve seamless money transfers, with the first being to simplify near real-time payouts in Canada. Domestic disbursements include any payouts made by a business, financial institution or government to a recipient within Canada.
Under this structure, VoPay will exclusively leverage Mastercard Move to enable domestic money movement to all enabled debit cards and reloadable prepaid cards in Canada, regardless of their network.
The second focus area is for cross-border payments to be fast and cost effective. With Canada’s large dependency on foreign trade, the need for seamless, cost-effective and reliable international money transfer solutions is a priority across consumers and businesses, according to Mastercard.
While cross-border payments have seen some innovation over the last decade, and volumes continue to grow globally, businesses and consumers continue to seek choice, simplicity, transparency and cost-effectiveness.
Mastercard and VoPay aim to ensure funds can travel across the border quickly, seamlessly and safely. Leveraging Mastercard Move, the partnership will enable businesses, consumers and banks to send money to bank accounts, mobile wallets, enabled cards and to cash-out agents in more than 180 countries.
The Mastercard Move portfolio features Mastercard-backed security, trackable payments, visibility of fees and estimated delivery times, high speed ranging from near real-time to same day for most locations.
Hamed Arbabi, CEO and Founder of VoPay, said: “This partnership delivers on both companies’ commitment to provide more choice and greater transparency for people who need to send money. The platform will also transform the way businesses and consumers transfer money internationally.
“Be it personal remittances, small business payments or commercial disbursements, with Mastercard Move, VoPay will enable businesses, financial institutions and consumers to send money to bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards and cash-payout locations in over 100 countries. The joint solution between Mastercard and VoPay will transform the user experiences for both the sender and the recipients.”
