Tietoevry Banking integrates Visa Direct to its Payment Hub

By Gloria Methri

Tietoevry Banking has announced the integration of Visa B2B Connect, a Visa Direct offering, into its Tietoevry Payment Hub. This move will enable Tietoevry Banking’s client financial institutions to offer corporate customers Visa B2B Connect payments, delivering faster, more cost-effective and transparent payment options when transacting across borders.

For decades, cross-border payments between businesses have been fraught with obstacles – and many of these problems have been getting worse. The 2024 Global Treasurer/Tietoevry Banking “Future of Corporate Cash Management” survey reveals almost half (48%) of businesses surveyed said they had challenges in correctly identifying and authenticating their payees – up from 40% in 2022.

At the same time, the number of businesses reporting problems with the real-time visibility of their money during the transaction process rose from less than half (43%) in 2022 to almost two-thirds (63%) this year.

Issues associated with B2B payments can include the layering of unnecessary or expensive foreign exchange transactions on top of initial charges, slow processing and settlement times, and a lack of transparency over the status of funds – as well as charges from the recipient bank. Especially when it comes to so-called rare or “exotic” currencies, there can also be issues with sufficient liquidity – a problem which can further slow transactions down, or add more cost into the process.

Designed specifically to address these problems, Visa B2B Connect is an innovative multilateral payment network which offers an alternative to the unpredictability corporate clients associate with current cross-border correspondent banking processes.

Commenting on the announcement, Jarkko Turunen, Head of Product Management & Business Development at Tietoevry Banking, said, “We are pleased to offer our clients this attractive payment method for their corporate customers within our Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS). Businesses of all sizes, but especially SMEs, have long struggled with high costs, complexity and lack of transparency when paying other businesses across borders. The integration of Visa B2B Connect provides our clients with an API-based solution that accelerates time-to-market with minimal additional investment. In turn, their corporate clients will benefit from end-to-end visibility of funds, faster and more secure transactions, predictable costs and access to optimised pools of liquidity.”

Anastasia Serikova, VP Revenue & Growth at Visa Direct, Europe added, “Visa is committed to modernising cross-border payments around the world. The collaboration we are announcing today with Tietoevry Banking will help more banks across Europe start transacting on our network, bringing faster, more transparent payments to their customers. Visa B2B Connect simplifies and speeds up transactions for banks and their clients, reducing costs for an efficient and secure way to move money globally.”