American multinational financial services corporation Mastercard announced a strategic partnership with blockchain firm R3 on Wednesday, September 11.
In an announcement posted by Mastercard, the partnership is said to be directed towards developing and piloting “a new blockchain-enabled cross-border payments solution,” which will help “on connecting global faster payments infrastructures, schemes, and banks supported by a clearing and settlement network operated by Mastercard.”
The recent partnership is not the first collaboration between Mastercard and R3. Earlier this month, the payment giant has entered R3’s Corda-powered Marco Polo Network for trade finance. The latest announcement is also seen to be part of Mastercard’s wider plans to develop its cross-border payments network and “multi-rail strategy.”
“Developing a new and better cross-border B2B payments solution by improving worldwide connectivity in the account-to-account space is central to Mastercard’s ambition,” said Peter Klein, executive vice president of new payment platforms at Mastercard. “Our goal is to deliver global payment infrastructure choice and connectivity as demonstrated through our recent strategic acquisitions and partnerships, including our relationship with R3.”
As explained by Coin Desk, the said partnership is expected to merge both the company’s expertise in blockchain and payment systems solutions. Ultimately, the collaboration is seen to be an avenue to create a new platform that will address issues on “high processing overheads, liquidity management and the existing lack of standardization and processes between banks and domestic clearing systems.”
In the same announcement, David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, also shared his thoughts on the said partnership, saying:
“All institutions – large or small – rely on the ability to send and receive payments, but all too often the technology they rely upon is cumbersome and expensive. Cross-border payments can be a particular pain point. Corda was designed specifically for enterprise use cases such as this, and we look forward to supporting Mastercard in bringing blockchain-enabled payments businesses across the globe.”
