Cross border payments

The Italian family that founded a bank in the 14^th century and pioneered branches and letters of credit is now setting up a tech-forward, crypto-friendly disruptor in the United States.

Most do not have an independent treasury function, making cross-border finance difficult, contends Chen Amit, CEO and Co-founder of Tipalti.

For Western Union and MoneyGram, the threat of digital payments must be transformed into an opportunity if either company is to survive.

The bank is hoping the venture will encourage more companies to use Quorum, the Ethereum-based blockchain it built five years ago.

Digital payments can make payroll for workers in industries like cruise ships less costly, and less dangerous than traditional cash-based methods, writes Hal Ramakers, vice president of global solutions for Brightwell.

Because the cost of cross-border payments can substantially bite into profit margins for travel agencies, payments technology provider Ixaris and financial service infrastructure developers Banking Circle are partnering to eliminate that expense with virtual bank account numbers.

Visa Inc. braved a stronger U.S. dollar and a decline in consumer confidence even as its customers’ spending overseas continued to slow during the first three months of the year.

Javier Pérez-Tasso has been named the new CEO of payments messaging standards provider Swift, replacing Gottfried Leibbrandt, who steps down from the post at the end of June.

Flywire is partnering with True North to allow Canadian educational institutions to better manage payments from international students by integrating them with application, enrollment and accounts receivable processes.

Payment preferences significantly vary from region to region, making the need to cater to local payment methods crucial, according to Steve Villegas, vice president of partner management at PPRO.

With the U.K. government still at stalemate over Brexit, the prospect of leaving the European Union without a deal remains a very real possibility. Despite some recent agreements, this could have major implications for the U.K. payments industry.

JPMorgan Chase has joined the Single Euro Payments Area real-time payments scheme by adding the Sepa Instant Credit rail to its network in Europe.

National Australia Bank is utilizing the end-to-end transaction tracking system through Swift's Global Payments Innovation system, making it the first bank in Australia to allow business customers to track international payments through one click on an account platform.

The agreement with U.S. and U.K. regulators is on top of the $667 million it paid to U.S. authorities in 2012 for its handling of transactions that violated economic sanctions against Iran.

Payment processor and financial messaging integrator Volante Technologies is partnering with the Banco Base financial group to provide end-to-end payments software for domestic and international payments.

Visa’s proposal to buy Earthport — which already survived a brief bidding war with Mastercard — is getting a closer look by the U.K.’s antitrust watchdog group.

Payments messaging standards provider Swift has established a new group to help it promote and assure smooth migration of the cross-border ISO 20022 standard.

Global payments provider Elavon has established a new partnership with Societe Generale for payments acceptance and acquiring services throughout Europe.

Western Union has found a way to expand its U.S. footprint without building new storefronts through a strategic relationship it’s established with deep-discounter Dollar General.

They haven't thrown in the towel yet, but comments by top executives at the two big banks suggested that their interest in finding financial services uses for distributed ledgers is wearing very thin.