Trio Links Global Biz Payments To Community Banks

A trio of businesses are collaborating on a cross-border payments solution for U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises.

Reports on Wednesday (Feb. 10) said international FinServ player Clearshift Group has struck a deal with City National Bank of New Jersey and small business investment firm East Coast Capital Holdings to develop a peer-to-peer foreign currency exchange for small businesses.

Together, the companies — which signed a letter of intent for their venture — will launch a platform on which businesses can send payments overseas. The fees associated with the service, the companies said, will be “transparent and low-cost.”

The firms also plan to make their platform available to banks as a white label solution so they can provide their own business clients with this service.

In a statement, City National Bank Chairman and CEO Preston D. Pinkett III said the partnership signals how technology can ease friction in international payments.

“This venture is an example of how the combination of FinTech companies and banks could ease payment processes, reduce fraud, save users money, promote financial planning and, ultimately, move the giant financial industry forward,” he said. “Entering the cross-border payments space will similarly allow us to fill a gap in the financial system.”

The companies added that their solution will help businesses more adequately monitor their foreign exchange costs and will allow the firms to reach new business customers that would not necessarily have approached these companies before for this type of service.

The announcement came the same day that GAIN Capital launched its own cross-border payments service for consumers and businesses.