Visa is keeping up the pace on what has proved to be an active year for the international payments company, announcing its latest partnership this morning.
The company’s Visa Direct real-time push payments division has struck a partnership with Crown Agents Bank (CAB), a London-based B Corp bank which operates with a focus on FX and cross-border payments.
The duo are targeting the ‘last mile’ of payments, a term for the final and most complex stage of the payments process. The deal builds on a historic partnership between the two which has seen Visa use CAB to provide FX liquidity for high value payment settlement.
“This collaboration is hugely significant for our clients,” remarked Neeraj Kapur, newly appointed CEO of CAB.
“Our combined capabilities and expertise mean we’re able to reduce the cost and friction associated with moving money across hard-to-reach markets: getting more funds delivered more efficiently to those who need it the most.”
The updated collaboration between Visa and CAB focuses on the latter’s network, which will be connected via API to Visa Direct. CAB believes that this will allow its customers to move lower value payments across emerging markets cost-effectively, and settle payments directly into an eligible cad, account or wallet.
NGOs have been earmarked as a target group for this offering. The partnership falls in line with CAB’s cross-border payments objectives, with the company outlining a desire to facilitate payments in ‘hard to reach markets’ when embarking on other partnerships this year.
Meanwhile, for Visa, the agreement marks a continuation of a busy few months for the company, one of the biggest stakeholders in the global payments sector.
The past month alone has seen the firm participate in a funding round in African payroll firm Workpay, initiate a global partnership with prominent UK fintech challenger Revolut, and reportedly reach an advanced stage of negotiations to acquire fraud prevention firm Featurespace.
“Visa’s mission is to be the best way to pay and be paid – and that goes for everyone,” said Rajiv Garodia, Head of Visa Government Solutions.
“It’s as true for your everyday consumer card payment as it is for paying remittances to a family member abroad, or for an NGO sending humanitarian aid to someone in need. This collaboration with Crown Agents Bank is an important step towards us achieving that mission”.
