Visa, UnionBank ink partnership

GLOBAL payments company Visa has teamed up with Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) to launch a cross-border business-to-business (B2B) payments platform called Visa B2B Connect.

Visa Asia Pacific Head of B2B Partnerships Vikram Kshettry said his company seeks to have “a lot more of cross-border B2B payments.”

Visa chose UnionBank because it is “so forwardlooking. [It wants] to reinvent [itself] as a technology company,” he added.

For his part, Unionbank Chairman Justo Ortiz confirmed what the Visa official said, and said the bank is exerting efforts to improve its capability to become a technology company.

Ortiz also said the partnership is an “opportunity for us to make a difference in the corporate space, particularly with SMEs (small and medium enterprises).”

UnionBank President Edwin Bautista said the Visa B2B Connect would reduce the lender’s transaction cost, from which the company and its customers would benefit.

“We expect the cost to really go down. It will also reduce our operating cost… Processing cost will go down significantly,” he added. Visa B2B Connect will operate using blockchain technology that would facilitate the immediate transfer of funds to the recipient’s account overseas.

“If we could create a payment network... it should facilitate faster transfers and more transparency,” Kshettry said.

Other banks in the pilot program includes Commerce Bank in the United States, Shinhan Bank in South Korea, Sberbank in Russia and United Overseas Bank in Singapore.

Visa B2B Connect is set to be launched in the first quarter of 2018.