Payment Rail Innovators Focus On Cards, Contactless Payments

New payment rails are again in the spotlight, with commercial card and contactless payments emerging as the top focuses for innovators.

This week’s look at payment rail innovation is all about digitization and payments acceptance.

Boost Payment Solutions is teaming with Visa for commercial payments acceptance, while EE is joining forces with Square to help U.K. merchants accept touch-free payments.

PYMNTS breaks down all of the latest initiatives below.

Boost Payment Solutions, Visa Team for Commercial Payments Acceptance

To provide commercial card issuers, cardholders and vendors with further automation and flexibility, Boost Payment Solutions is teaming with Visa.

The tie-up will harness Boost Intercept, which is a technology for straight-through processing and Dynamic Boost, which uses rules-based pricing for commercial card payments.

Boost said it’s the only FinTech acquirer that is geared toward B2B payments.

Boost Payment Solutions Founder and CEO Dean M. Leavitt said the firm looks forward “to helping Visa’s commercial clients grow their card programs by maximizing commercial card acceptance through Boost’s technology-enabled solutions and time-tested supplier enrollment processes.”

Nacha Adopts Eight ACH Payment Updates

Nacha has adopted eight updates to the Nacha Operating Rules that the group, which enables Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments, said will help modernize the payment style. The amendments regard Same Day ACH and new methods of making ACH payments simpler to use.

Two of the rules offer a blueprint for financial institutions (FIs), companies, tech firms and payment providers for authorizing ACH payments that can be applied to the many new channels and technologies that consumers are harnessing to engage and transact with companies.

Additional parts of the updates include decreasing multiple administrative mandates connected with requirements to get or offer payment-related documentation and setting a certain timeframe for FIs to contend with unauthorized payment claims.

“Nacha and our members work to evolve the ACH ecosystem as new business needs arise and as technology changes,” ACH Network Administration Senior Vice President Michael Herd said. “These new rules should be useful to the many thousands of businesses and other organizations that enable consumers to conduct transactions using new technologies and channels.”

EE Joins Forces With Square for UK SMB Contactless Payments

To help grow the availability of touch-free payments for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Britain, EE, which is part of the BT Group, is joining forces with Square.

EE clients will have complimentary access to a Square Reader via the collaboration with fee-free processing on the first roughly $1,300 of purchases.

More than half of British SMBs are adapting to new digital or touch-free payment methods to avoid spreading COVID-19, according to recent research.

Just under half — or 44 percent — of British SMBs have been selling more items via the web, while 26 percent have started harnessing touch-free payments, according to a press release.

“Partnering with EE means we can help more [SMBs] accept card payments with ease and simplicity,” said Pankaj Bengani, global partnerships lead at Square.

Global Trade Finance Network Contour Goes Into Production

In trade digitization, international trade finance network Contour is going into live production.

The network’s infrastructure offers a simplified virtual application for trade finance via a distributed ledger network.

The transition to production comes after a long time of planning, build-out and piloting by more than 80 banks and companies, with tests in 17 nations.

Companies and FIs will begin using Contour by focusing on the Letter of Credit (LC) process. Contour had the ability to cut processing time for LCs by as much as 90 percent when it was being tested, according to an announcement.

“We owe our thanks to the global network of banks, corporates, shareholders and technology partners, who have collaborated to deliver this network,” Contour CEO Carl Wegner said. “Together we have designed and built the digital future for trade finance.”