Brightwell and Visa Team to Simplify Launching Cross-Border Payments Programs

Brightwell and Visa have teamed up to help customers launch cross-border payments programs.

This collaboration enables the use of Visa Direct through Brightwell’s ReadyRemit platform, making it easier for FinTechs, money transmitters, and prepaid and banking providers to enable real-time push payments to 3 billion cards around the world, the companies said in a Tuesday (March 28) press release.

“Not only are we creating products that are simple to use, easy to integrate with and achieve measurable results, but we’re offering our customers options, too,” Brightwell CEO Larry Hipp said in the release. “By adding Visa Direct to the list of international payment providers powering ReadyRemit, our customers can choose the best option that addresses their needs.”

With the addition of Visa Direct, Brightwell’s ReadyRemit platform can reach eligible debit and prepaid cards, providing additional options for capital disbursements, cross-border payments, account transfers, peer-to-peer (P2P) and cards, according to the press release.

These new capabilities join the remittance engine’s existing tools that help businesses integrate cross-border transactions via application programming interfaces (APIs) or software development kits (SDKs). This can also be complemented by Brightwell’s compliance-as-a-service offering, the release said.

“Visa is committed to helping spur innovation in cross-border money movement,” Yanilsa Gonzalez-Ore, senior vice president, North America head of Visa Direct, said in the release. “By embedding Visa Direct in Brightwell’s ReadyRemit platform, we are excited to expand cross-border remittance and payout capabilities for Brightwell’s customers across a variety of industries, such as travel and financial services.”

The announcement of this partnership comes a week after Visa said that it is finding that more remittance senders and receivers are using digital apps.

Fifty-three percent of these consumers use digital apps to send and receive money around the world, Visa said March 21.

The announcement also comes about four months after Brightwell teamed up with NCR to launch an ATM program for the cruise line industry.

That program helps the industry drive revenue and reduce the cost of operating ATMs while also letting cruise line passengers access cash in areas that are remote and challenging, Brightwell said in December.