Volante Technologies partners with Afirme to modernise its payments infrastructure

By Edlyn Cardoza

Volante Technologies, a global provider of cloud payments and financial messaging, has partnered with Banca Afirme, S.A. (Afirme), a subsidiary of Afirme Grupo Financiero, S.A. de C.V., to modernise its payments infrastructure. The Bank has begun its modernisation journey by automating SWIFT cross-border transaction processing as part of its digital transformation initiative designed to enhance its customers’ banking experience. ISO 20022 readiness and the addition of other cross-border payment types are next in line.

According to reports, Mexico’s cross-border payment volumes are rising twice as fast as the global average. Afirme has numerous business customers that rely on fast and secure international transactions. Hence the Bank expects the volume of cross-border transactions to grow exponentially because of this global business surge and anticipation of opening its branches in North America.

Raúl Arzate Ortiz, Director Comptroller’s Office, Money Markets, Afirme, said, “As we seek to enhance our customers’ experience and grow domestically and internationally, payments modernisation is a top priority for us. Fully automating and accelerating cross-border payment processing with Volante is an important first step forward.” He added, “Volante has helped us reduce SWIFT processing time from hours to seconds, so that our customers can receive international funds within a near-immediate settlement instance, even as the volume of requests continues to grow.”

Afirme selected Volante’s VolPay because of its modern, low-code business-service architecture, deep functionality, and ease of integration with new and existing bank systems. By partnering with Volante, the bank can accelerate its customer experience modernisation roadmap by launching new value-added services based on the ISO 20222 messaging standard and offering next-generation cross-border payment types such as SWIFT and gpi.

“With Volante we have successfully automated all of our SWIFT processing. We also expect to be able to smoothly handle increases in transaction volume by an average of 20 percent annually. More so, we will be able to offer our customers a wider variety of international payment types and a data-rich experience as we prepare for ISO 20222 readiness – all with one solution,” said Arzate.

With this deployment at Afirme, Volante’s payments solutions are now live at multiple significant banks and exchanges in Latin America, processing over 1,800,000 transactions per month on average.

“With half of the population in Latin America unbanked, there is significant opportunity for financial businesses in the region to grow market share through digital innovation, and at the same time expand financial inclusion. We are proud to be working as a trusted partner to Afirme, providing them with market-leading payments solutions to advance their customer experience and digital modernisation goals. Together, we can realise our common vision of a world in which real-time digital financial services are easily and equitably available to all,” said Vijay Oddiraju, CEO of Volante Technologies.

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Volante Technologies collaborated with Banco del Bajío on its payments modernisation initiatives. As an integral part of the bank’s broader digital transformation program, BanBajío and Volante will deliver an outstanding payment user experience for the bank’s customers, creating intuitive digital experiences for everyday banking demands.