Real-Time Payments Makes Real Headway For Corporates

Real-time payments is making headway for corporate end users in this week’s Payment Rails Innovation Roundup. While J.P. Morgan debuts its new real-time payment service for corporates, on the other side of the world, Azupay loops into Australia’s New Payments Platform for Xero’s small business users.

Penny Hops Onto Mastercard Track Business Payment Service

Penny Software, a procure-to-pay technology, is signing onto Mastercard Track Business Payment Service in Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. Mastercard Track optimizes business transactions by mixing and matching payment rails to route funds in the most efficient and beneficial way. Penny said it will now connect its business customers to B2B payment capabilities via Mastercard’s business payments offering. “There is a structural need to digitize and automate B2B payments accelerated by the global [COVID-19] pandemic and Mastercard Track allows us to fully take advantage of this opportunity,” said J.K. Khalil, country manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Levant at Mastercard.

J.P. Morgan Debuts Real-Time Payments Service For Firms

J.P. Morgan has launched a real-time payments solution targeted toward business clients. Reports said J.P. Morgan is now piloting the technology, called request for pay, which allows a business to request payment from customers. The solution is designed for business clients whose own customers are also clients of J.P. Morgan. While the solution can accelerate transactions to businesses, J.P. Morgan global head of real-time payments Cyrus Bhathawalla said that the initiative also aims “to give multiple different payment types so corporates and merchants can provide the right options to their customers.” The company is looking to drive adoption for B2B scenarios as well, with Bhathawalla pointing to the use case of a gas distributor getting paid for refilling tanks at gas stations as one example. While J.P. Morgan did not reveal which payment rail it is using, the financial institution did highlight it was among the first to adopt The Clearing House‘s RTP service.

Azupay Wields NPP For Real-Time SMB Payments

Azupay has announced a partnership with Xero to release its PayID offering, using Australia’s New Payments Platform to facilitate real-time payments for small business customers. For Xero’s small and medium-sized business (SMB) users, Azupay is integrating a PayID function on invoices for their customers to make a payment. Using the NPP rail, businesses can receive those funds in real-time to promote cash flow. PayID negates the need for customers to enter card or account numbers. “PayID Powered by Azupay marks a turning point in B2B and B2C payments in Australia,” said Azupay CEO John Murphy. “Australian businesses can use PayID powered by Azupay to help accelerate cash flow and at the same time reduce their payment processing costs.”

Reserve Trust Lands Funding For B2B Payments Technology

With a focus on domestic and cross-border B2B payments, Reserve Trust works with financial institutions and FinTechs to optimize their services by offering direct access into payment rails, including ACH, FedWire, SWIFT and others. The company announced in a recent press release it raised $30.5 million in Series A funding for its solution with QED Investors leading the round, while FinTech Collective and Ardent Venture Partners also participated. “While banks will always have an important role to play in B2B commerce, they have struggled to deliver the technology and services that businesses need to fully digitize domestic and international payments,” said Reserve Trust CEO Dave Wright.

GoCardless Collaborates With Fiskl To Optimize Direct Debit

Account-to-account payments technology firm GoCardless is working with business accounting and financial management FinTech Fiskl to integrate direct debit payment functionality within the Fiskl platform. Targeting recurring payments, the tie-up helps small businesses collect recurring direct debit payments on repeat invoices. The companies said in their announcement that the solution aims to mitigate the frictions of card rails, which can include failed transactions related to expiration dates or card changes.