An On-Ramp for MasterCard Gateway

Not bad for a three-week-old startup service: MasterCard’s new Payment Gateway service for business-to-business payments is getting an immediate ramping into 3.5 million merchant locations thanks to an agreement with First Data Corp. The new payment-processing platform—which provides a financial payments chain between buyers, suppliers and the financial institutions who serve them—will be streamlined into First Data customers on the strength of multiple payment types, including card and EFT, according to MasterCard. First Data will perform the authorization and settlement of funds to merchants’ checking accounts. It’s part of MasterCard Worldwide’s strategy to beef up the electronic payment evolution, including rapid settlement, lower costs and additional risk management features that provide more control over things like authorized p-card procurement. MasterCard is also working to wean treasuries off of check payments and wire transfers in the corporate-to-corporate world.