At a fintech festival in Singapore, global credit card giant VISA announced that it is going to schedule the pilot phase of its blockchain-based payment system called B2B Connect in mid-2018.
After the first announcment of this payment system in October 2016, VISA brokered global partnerships with several international banks including US-based Commerce Bank, Shinhan Bank of South Korea, Union Bank of the Philippines, and United Overseas Bank of Singapore.
With this project, VISA is aiming to provide a more efficient cross-border payment system by cutting all the service-providers in the middle.
VISA is working with the blockchain startup Chain to develop this project and is emphasizing the security of the system, but at the same time it is determined to make payments transparent between enterprises.
In its official announcement, VISA stated: “Creativity, agility, and product flexibility are vital attributes as we develop the products and capabilities that will power the next generation of payments.”
Chris Wiedenmann, VP of commercial payments and products at Commerce Bank, explained the necessity of quickly processed transactions in the growing globalized market: “In a world of increasing global interconnectedness, the ability to make and receive payments quickly and transparently is critical for companies of all sizes. Commerce Bank is dedicated to delivering new and innovative solutions for our customers and, through our powerful relationship with Visa, we are excited to be participating in the Visa B2B Connect pilot.”
He added: “Using technology based on blockchain architecture, Visa B2B Connect simplifies this process by sending transactions over Visa’s network from the bank of origin directly to the recipient bank.”
VISA centralized the project to Singapore for the time being, where the scale of commerce in the busy port will provide an appropriate test bed for the platform to earn its chops.
(Photo: pxhere)
