Blockchain and digital currencies continue to garner more attention among corporate finance leaders and their financial service providers, with this week’s Payment Rail Innovation tracker finding financial institutions (FIs) and FinTechs investing more heavily in the infrastructure to facilitate B2B payments. Plus, new initiatives expand payment rail innovation in Zimbabwe and Peru as markets pursue faster, more efficient transactions.
SBI Joins J.P. Morgan Blockchain Network
The State Bank of India (SBI) has signed on to participate on J.P. Morgan Chase’s blockchain payment network. With a focus on accelerating cross-border transactions and lowering costs for end-users, the partners would help J.P. Morgan expand its blockchain operations in India while the SBI would loop into Liink, the blockchain infrastructure that facilitates global transactions. About 100 banks are now live on the network around the world.
RowanPay To Launch Blockchain Payment Network
With its eye on cross-border B2B transactions, RowanPay is gearing up to debut its blockchain-based payments network in the U.S. The company said blockchain infrastructure supports accelerated transaction speeds, including faster settlement, while mitigating the risk of chargebacks and boosting transparency of transactions. “Blockchain will change the way the financial sector has done business for the last 50 years,” CEO Carrie Sattler said in a statement.
BIGtoken Embraces Crypto B2B Payments
Data marketplace BIGtoken is integrating cryptocurrency payment capabilities through a new partnership with Gilded, the companies revealed. Through their collaboration, BIGtoken will offer bitcoin as a reward choice for its users, but it is also adopting the technology itself, offering employees the option of receiving bitcoin for salary payments, and offering vendors bitcoin for invoice payment. In a statement, CEO Lou Kerner said, “We believe that crypto is the biggest thing to happen in the history of humanity.”
Ledgermatic Chooses Blockchain Partner
Ledgermatic is in the midst of building out its treasury management technology to enable corporates to hold digital assets and make cryptocurrency payments. Now, the company is working with blockchain protocol partner Algorand to achieve that vision. Ledgermatic said in an announcement that “the increasing adoption of digital assets represents a permanent shift in the nature of finance,” with businesses headed toward increasing adoption of digital assets.
Mastercard, ACI Collaborate On Real-Time Payments In Peru
Mastercard is teaming up with ACI Worldwide in Peru to support the nation’s efforts to facilitate real-time payments. The nation’s Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE) is working with the entities as the volume of real-time transfers processed by the CCE grows exponentially. In targeting both consumers and businesses, Mastercard and ACI will support the development of local infrastructure that can loop into existing FIs and service providers to facilitate instant transfers. “As these countries look to launch their own real-time payments schemes, they are turning to ACI and Mastercard, and we are excited to deliver Peru’s new real-time central infrastructure,” said Jeremy Wilmot, chief product officer of ACI Worldwide.
Joor Adds Bank Transfers To Wholesale Platform
Joor, a fashion and beauty wholesale management platform, is targeting additional payment rails to facilitate B2B transactions on its website. The company said partnerships with SEPA in Europe and ACH in the U.S. will enable bank-to-bank transfers on its portal, an addition to the existing card payment capabilities it offers. The capabilities went live last year, and according to the company, more than half of the payments made on its site occur via bank transfer.
Zimbabwe Welcomes New ACH Rail
Zimbabwe is expanding its payments ecosystem with the addition of new ACH infrastructure dubbed FCH, Finteq Africa announced. Operated by Zimswitch under the brand ZEEPAY, the Clearing House solution supports ISO 20022 payment messaging standards and facilitates batch-based push payment clearing and settlement. The payment system is now available for FIs including banks and FinTechs and is part of the nation’s Payments Modernization initiative, which will eventually include request for credit and real-time credit capabilities.
