Cross border payments

Fresh off a public offering and shopping boost, Alibaba Group has entered into an agreement with Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to build digital finance services in areas such as cross-border finance and electronic payment settlement.

Visa has formed a strategic partnership with Global Processing Services. It also announced its Visa Direct debit push service will power real-time cross-border payments in Europe via TransferWise.

In theory, the beauty of e-commerce is that a merchant can court any shopper in any part of the world with an internet connection. In practice, attracting a shopper and providing them with the customer experience they expect will look different in every country, says Lee Clifton of JP Morgan Merchant Services.

Large banks’ embrace of PSD2-influenced open banking has often been reluctant. Not so for Citigroup.

Former T. Rowe Price portfolio manager Henry Ellenbogen is making Rapyd his first bet.

Tariffs and other macro factors have introduced new uncertainty into international trade.

Tariffs and other macro factors have introduced new uncertainty into international trade.

Interoperability has become a top priority in the minds of those advancing faster payments.

Alibaba’s gigantic stock debut in Hong Kong gives it extra fuel to become a global payments empire.

In a move that accelerates Western Union's plan for its money transfers to be part of advancing digital technology, the cross-border payment provider has entered an agreement with Amazon Web Services for long-term cloud services.

From its start four years ago as a PayPal service, the Xoom mobile money transfer network has positioned itself as an international P2P app that could rival traditional networks through its speed and ease of use.

Isolationist politics are creeping closer to the payments industry, with European banks threatening to build a localized payment ecosystem to push back against the major American card brands.

Swift and EBA Clearing have started developing the process by which Europe's large-value payment system will migrate to use of the ISO 20022 messaging standard.

Germany’s Wirecard has taken a controlling stake in AllScore Payment Services, a Chinese company with a set of cross-border payments licenses Wirecard hopes will extend its reach to merchants with ties to China.

In launching a new international account for its business clients, Starling Bank is converting the bank's debit card to support payments in either pounds or euros.

Finabler’s Xpress Money cross-border transfer service has partnered with Geoswift to enable consumers in global markets to send funds in real time to Chinese bank accounts.

Flywire is working with Bank of America to streamline cross-border payments for the bank’s higher education and corporate clients, whose foreign transaction traffic is rising along with global commerce.

Western Union has gone live with a service enabling real-time cross-border remittances to India harnessing Unified Payments Interface, the central bank’s payment rails.

Ravi Menon says that Facebook's bid to create its own digital currency has laid bare shortcomings in cross-border payments and financial inclusion that banks and regulators must address.

As e-commerce becomes international, American merchants should embrace alternative payment methods in other countries, says PPRO U.S.'s Steve Villegas.