Cross border payments

Hong Kong-based OKLink, a blockchain-based digital payments network specializing in international remittances, is now available in Vietnam, the twenty-first country it's reached since launching six months ago.

Axis Bank, one of India’s largest private-sector financial institutions, has reportedly become the first bank in the country to partner with Ripple for a blockchain-powered approach to cross-border payment.

The Society for Worldwide Financial Telecommunication is exploring the potential of distributed ledger technology for banks to provide real-time reconciliation of their databases for accounts they hold in other banks in a foreign currency.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. pioneered shopping on the internet in China. Now it thinks it can teach old-school retailers a thing or two about real-world commerce.

Around the same time PayPal spun off from eBay Inc. to become its own company last year, it also took on the global money transfer provider Xoom. This acquisition may have been overshadowed by PayPal's bigger news, but it remains key to the company's post-eBay strategy.

PayPal's digital money transfer service Xoom will allow Japanese immigrants and others in the U.S. to send money for deposit into bank accounts in Japan.

The University of Illinois is getting an education in how complex tuition payment processing can be, especially when the students enrolled from outside of the U.S. It also serves as an example of the clients that are in big demand for cross-border payment companies seeking larger volumes.

Continuing a fast global expansion pace for both companies, digital money transfer providers WorldRemit and Xpress Money are partnering to open new remittance routes to Southeast Asia.

International mobile money transfer firm WorldRemit is in the midst of a broad expansion of its services to various global regions, relying on a handful of strategic partners with a focus on new regions.

Two clients of French bank BNP Paribas processed and cleared several live payments over the bank’s Cash Without Borders product.

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions has appointed Hubert J.P. Jolly as its global head of payments and receivables, effective immediately.

The Philippines is considering regulations for digital currencies as the government seeks to bolster protection for the increasing number of overseas Filipinos using bitcoin and its counterparts to send money home.

Sydney-based Octet Finance, a provider of supply chain management and financing tools for small and midsize businesses, has formed an alliance with Mastercard enabling users to make cross-border payments using their existing Mastercard credit and debit card accounts via virtual card technology.

As global e-commerce proliferates, payment platforms are stepping up to cater to U.S. merchants eager to sell their wares in emerging markets. But there can be as many risks as there are opportunities when entering a new market.

Facing security challenges at its member banks and competition from other tech providers, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication [Swift] plans to put its best foot forward in 2017.

President-elect Trump faces legal questions over his idea to hold remittances ransom to fund a wall in Mexico, but the industry should take the threat seriously.

The collaboration will help consumers use WorldRemit funds to accounts in six new markets in Africa.

There's been a rapid growth of cross-border payments and remittance startups, and CIBC responded with a major project designed to streamline transactions.

Vantiv has made a name for itself the past two years in advancing integrated payments at the point of sale, while also welcoming application developers to interact with the company's technology through Vantiv ONE. Its latest move puts its focus on e-commerce.

While there are a handful of payment pilots underway, the real benefit of blockchain for banks is a long-term proposition--and most early projects will be internal.