Standard Chartered today announced that it has joined Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral payment network that enables faster and frictionless account-to-account cross-border payments for its corporate clients. Launching first for clients of Standard Chartered Singapore with more entities to be added to the network in the months ahead, the solution will expand and enhance the Bank’s existing suite of payments solutions with a focus on facilitating faster and more cost-effective business-to-business (B2B) transactions across borders.

Through application programming interface (API) connectivity between Standard Chartered and the Visa B2B Connect network, transactions will be routed directly to Visa for further processing, removing multiple intermediaries and the associated costs and delays. Built upon Visa’s extensive global network, Visa B2B Connect offers multilateral connectivity to all network members through a single connection with transparent timeframes and costs, offering predictability and cost effectiveness. These capabilities help meet the needs of corporates of all sizes that are actively looking at ways to achieve quicker, more secure, and more efficient cross-border payments.

Philip Panaino, Global Head of Cash at Standard Chartered, said: “We are delighted to build on our existing partnership with Visa to deliver this innovative and future-ready cross border payment network offering to our clients. We will join as a participant bank and as Visa’s new settlement partner for a set of currencies. In today’s increasingly interconnected world, both corporates and payment networks are constantly looking for solutions and partners that can help them simplify cross border transactions and improve operational efficiencies, without compromising on security. Our engagement in the Visa B2B Connect network – both as a participant and as a settlement bank – is yet another way we are delivering value add to the broader ecosystem as we support corporates on their payments journey.”

“Visa is committed to modernising cross-border payments around the world and the collaboration with Standard Chartered will extend our network even further,” said Ben Ellis, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Visa B2B Connect at Visa. “We are excited to be partnering with Standard Chartered to simplify and speed up transactions for their clients, cutting out middlemen and reducing costs for a more efficient and secure way to move money globally.”

The Bank will also act as one of Visa’s settlement partners within the network, and in this capacity, facilitates payment flows, including settlement accounts, funds movement and FX capabilities for Visa. In addition to providing Visa with the ability to extend additional settlement currencies and locations to their participant banks, the API solution offered by Standard Chartered further supports the network design to allow network participants to benefit from the transparency of their payment status at any point in time, by facilitating seamless payment and auto reconciliation.

Standard Chartered is currently the settlement bank for Visa B2B Connect in the United Arab Emirates and is also a new settlement bank for Singapore, with additional plans underway to include the United States. The strength of the Bank’s FX liquidity capabilities and market presence also allows payments initiated in Singapore Dollars (SGD) and United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) or other settlement currencies to be delivered to up to 100 currencies, further enhancing Visa’s network and client experience.