- Mastercard launched Move Commercial Payments, a real-time cross-border payments solution that operates 24/7.
- The new commercial payments tool leverages a multi-rail system that includes SWIFT, Visa Direct, and Mastercard’s proprietary networks.
- Move Commercial Payments offers features like liquidity management, integration with existing SWIFT systems, and helps to reduce counterparty risk.
Mastercard unveiled an offering this week that will allow commercial users to make cross-border payments in near-real-time. The payments giant introduced Mastercard Move Commercial Payments today, which facilitates payments 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Mastercard Move Commercial Payments leverages a multi-rail approach that includes SWIFT, Visa Direct, and Mastercard’s proprietary networks to facilitate the cross-border payments. Relying on multiple rails enables banks and their commercial clients to send near-instant, transparent, and predictable transactions any time of day, any day of the week.
Cross-border payments have become increasingly crucial for businesses operating in a global economy. According to a 2023 McKinsey study, global payments revenue grew by double digits in both 2021 and 2022. However, many businesses still struggle with cross-border payments, frustrated by hidden costs and unpredictable settlement speed.
Mastercard Move Commercial Payments offers more than just real-time settlement. The tool also includes several features designed to enhance its value for banks. These features include multiple settlement options that improve liquidity management, a multi-party arrangement to reduce counterparty and default risks, integration with existing SWIFT messaging systems, and compatibility with current correspondent banking relationships. These elements help banks maximize operational efficiency while minimizing risk.
“By powering fast, predictable and transparent payments, Mastercard Move Commercial Payments will bring what is already the norm in domestic payments to the commercial cross-border payment space,” said Mastercard Head of Transfer Solutions Alan Marquard. “Our latest product innovation aims to directly address the pain points that are currently affecting the commercial cross-border payments market. By shifting to this new model, they will be empowered to generate new revenue streams while reducing risk and enhancing the offering for their corporate customers.”
Mastercard Move Commercial Payments, which is part of the company’s Move portfolio, was piloted in the U.K. with Lloyds Banking Group and UBS. This initial phase marked an important step in refining the platform’s capabilities for large-scale deployment. By collaborating with major financial institutions, Mastercard was able to validate the efficiency of its multi-rail payment system, demonstrating the platform’s market readiness and paving the way for broader adoption.
Mastercard’s launch competes with Visa’s real-time payments solution called Visa Direct, which enables fast and secure money movement to different endpoints across the globe. Similar to Mastercard’s Move Commercial Payments, Visa Direct also leverages a multi-rail approach that supports card-based and account-to-account transfers that integrate with The Clearing House RTP and FedNow.
Today’s launch comes amid a string of other payments-related news releases this month, as both fintechs and traditional financial services firms seek to capitalize on the recent consumer awareness of real-time payments generated from last year’s FedNow launch. Just last week, for example, we covered news from Worldline, which unveiled an account-to-account transfer tool in Europe, Tyfone’s launch of Payfinia instant payments solution, and Token.io’s real-time payments partnership with Santander.