Mastercard Advances Multi-Rail Strategy to Modernize Business Payments

Distributed by Business Wire
16th November 2020

Adding Account-to-Account and Global Card Payments Functionality to Mastercard Track™ Business Payment Service

PURCHASE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mastercard continues to deliver on its multi-rail strategy with the addition of Account-to-Account (A2A) payments functionality to Mastercard Track™ Business Payment Service.

This launch represents the next phase in Mastercard’s journey to modernize business payments by solving persistent pain points that Buyers and Suppliers experience today. Building on the success of card payments within Mastercard Track Business Payment Service, businesses can now have a similar experience for A2A payments – exchanging data with greater efficiency and facilitating payments across multiple payment rails including Real Time Payments (RTP) and the Automated Clearing House (ACH) in the United States.

The Account-to-Account payments functionality in Track Business Payment Service is now available in the U.S. and will be available in all regions by the end of 2021. Cross-border payments are also on the roadmap for next year.

Track Business Payment Service gives businesses greater control of their payments and supports rich data exchanges and the ability to automate payments without the need to share sensitive bank account information. About 80% of mid-size and large Suppliers view the sharing of bank account data as a business risk, according to Mastercard research.¹The risk of bank account data being compromised is reduced because Suppliers no longer need to share their confidential bank account details with Buyers, nor do Buyers need to store those details.

“Today, the vast majority of B2B payments are made through bank account transfers. Extending Mastercard Track Business Payment Service to support these transfers is a step on our way to building out the best and most secure B2B payment network in the world,” said James Anderson, Executive Vice President of Global Commercial and B2B Solutions at Mastercard. “Our commitment to supporting multiple payment rails has always been about helping customers operate more efficiently and effectively leveraging all the capabilities available in the market with as little change as possible. This milestone is another step in the journey away from paper-based frustration, incomplete data and manual reconciliation work and toward a fully digitized business payments process.”

Modernizing B2B Payments Across New Geographies and Partners

In May 2020, Mastercard announced the commercial launch of Track Business Payment Service for U.S. card payments. Today, businesses of all sizes can use this service to pay and get paid with card through new distribution partners around the world including: bzPay, Gardenia Technologies, Girasol Payment Solutions, Network International, Pendo Technologies Corp., Plastiq, Today Payments, Inc., Transcard, Ukheshe, and Yak Pay.

Now, through Track Business Payment Service, commercial businesses have access to more control and greater simplicity in how they pay and get paid across multiple payment types.

What Our Partners are Saying

“B2B payments terms and delays can create debilitating negative cashflow dilemmas for business. bzPay helps with a practical way to reduce debt, accelerate payments and optimize cashflow through a single payments platform. Mastercard’s Track Business Payment Service multi-rail solution provides a New Payment Platform enablement and a scalable payment solution for our customers. By enabling payment flexibility options, Mastercard paves the way for a globally connected eCommerce solution.” – Aleks Kostadinovic, CEO bzPay Pty Ltd.

“Our company is focused on delivering data-driven working capital solutions including advanced analytics and finance to corporates. Mastercard Track Business Payment Service offers much-improved visibility into the source-to-pay and order-to-cash processes, as well as critical insights into payments for financial products and transactional reporting.” – Rupert Schneider, Co-Founder, Gardenia Technologies

“Payment behavior in the B2B market space is a crucial pain point in the Caribbean, mainly due to complex processes from different business cultures. As our company focuses on facilitating the business payment ecosystem with innovative technologies, it is our mission to add value to the way business payments are made. Mastercard Track Business Payment Service solution allows us to adopt global payment standards and add value by increasing transparency and providing rich reconciliation/remittance data in a secure trusted environment on both cards and A2A payment rails.” – Marwan Rozier, Chief Operating Officer, Girasol Payment Solutions

“We are delighted to be among the first partners in the Middle East and Africa to launch the Mastercard Track Business Payment Service solution that will address long-standing pain points in the B2B payment sector by creating an innovative service that responds to the industry’s urgent need for seamless and automated collection and reconciliation. We anticipate that Track Business Payment Service will act as a game changer, providing the scale and capability that will support our clients’ business needs.” – Samer Soliman, Managing Director – Middle East, Network International

“Pendo focuses on disruptive technologies and innovation leveraging business and technology trends to develop innovative solutions that alleviate many payments process pain points that both big corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises encounter every day. We are delighted to partner with Mastercard Track Business Payment Service to help businesses reduce costs, increase speed, improve efficiencies and create healthier cash flow.” – Oscar Uribe, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer, Pendo Technologies Corp.

“Businesses are in constant need to access new forms of working capital and streamline their payments. Plastiq’s ability to help businesses do more with their commercial cards is very aligned with Mastercard Track Business Payment Service’s global vision for making B2B payments frictionless. We’re excited to partner with Mastercard to help offer businesses more optimized payment solutions.” – Sameer Gulati, President & COO of Plastiq

“Suppliers/Billers need rich data exchanges, including itemized revenue transaction data, not just batch deposit summaries afforded them via direct connect banking. Track Business Payment Service magnificently delivers this expanded data. Our Today Payments API, an award-winning software innovation, automates the process of recording the rich, complex data efficiently. We are thrilled to provide this cutting-edge solution for all B2B transactions in what I consider to be the most real-world, revolutionary enhancement to business payments with the Track Business Payments Service.” – Leigh Cook, CEO, Today Payments, Inc.

“Traditional approaches to making and receiving B2B payments are inefficient, unnecessarily complex and risky. The combination of the Mastercard Track Business Payment Service and Transcard’s integration platform eliminates friction in B2B payments by digitally connecting buyers and sellers and facilitating touch-free real-time payments and the exchange of rich remittance information directly between trading partner ERPs and banks.” – Greg Bloh, CEO of Transcard

“Ukheshe, a digital banking platform focused on addressing financial inclusion in Africa, demands world-class partners and solutions that can address real customer concerns. With Mastercard Track Business Payment Service, we are able to ensure the secure transmission of payment details to multiple bill presenters, giving peace of mind to all parties involved.” – Mike Smits, Co-Founder, Ukheshe

“After seven years of processing B2B payments for thousands of our small business clients, we are on a mission to make their payments easier, faster and more secure. Yak Pay is delighted to be working with Mastercard to help achieve this, and Mastercard Track Business Payment Service is an excellent example of innovation helping small businesses operate more efficiently, profitably and securely.” – Sam Plowman, CEO of Payment Logic and Yak Pay

Notes to Editors

[1] Based on 404 survey responses, effective sample size of ~800, from an even split of small (>$50Mn), mid-size ($50Mn – $250Mn), and large ($250Mn+) companies. Source: Supplier survey; A.T. Kearney analysis (2019).

About Mastercard (NYSE:MA):

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.