Visa and Swift Streamline Cross-Border Payments With B2B Connect

Visa and Swift have announced a collaboration aimed at streamlining international B2B payments.

The joint effort will provide financial institutions and their customers with more choice, speed and transparency when sending money across borders, the companies said in a Tuesday (Sept. 19) press release.

One of the key features of this collaboration is Swift Payment Pre-validation, which allows upfront checks of Visa B2B Connect payments, according to the release. This helps catch potential errors before the payment is initiated, reducing unnecessary delays. Additionally, the networks plan to leverage high-speed Swift GPI capabilities and tracking data to increase end-to-end transaction visibility.

To facilitate this collaboration, Visa will migrate its connection to Swift through Alliance Cloud, a secure cloud-based channel for connecting to Swift’s network, the release said. This move will enable financial institutions on both networks to have more routing options for their business customers, along with real-time status and updates.

The collaboration between Visa and Swift aims to address the complexities faced by businesses when making cross-border payments, Chris Newkirk, global head of commercial and money movement solutions at Visa, said in the release.

“By working with Swift, Visa will help enhance our financial institution clients’ offerings to their corporate customers,” Newkirk said. “The collaboration will help provide clarity and enhanced data, while removing errors before, during and after the payment.”

Thierry Chilosi, chief strategy officer at Swift, added in the release: “Expectations for international payments are rising as the complexity of moving money across borders is intensifying. Our work with Visa helps address both challenges, providing new connectivity and capabilities in the backend to drive exciting innovation in front-end customer channels.”

Swift is a global member-owned cooperative that securely interconnects over 11,500 institutions across more than 200 countries and territories, according to the press release. It facilitates the movement of funds equivalent to the world GDP every three days.

Visa is a world leader in digital payments, connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, the release said.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that 56% of U.S. businesses said they see enhanced cash management capabilities as a benefit of cross-border payment innovations.

In addition, 54% of U.S businesses expect those innovations to reduce the cost of cross-border operations, and 51% believe they will reduce fraud, according to “Innovating Cross-Border Payments: Innovation Drivers,” a PYMNTS and Visa collaboration.

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