R3 partners MasterCard for cross border payments blockchain innovation
(10 September 2019 - United States) R3 and MasterCard have partnered to develop a blockchain powered cross border payments system connecting global instant payments infrastructures, schemes and banks supported by a clearing and settlement network operated by MasterCard.
MasterCard has been seeking to scale up its cross border payments offering, recently acquiring Transfast to improve its global connectivity in the account-to-account space. The latest deal adds to this by providing access to R3’s Corda system, which includes more than 300 of the world’s leading financial services firms, technology companies, central banks, regulators and trade associations.
The R3 agreement was announced hot on the heels of MasterCard announcing that it had joined the blockchain-based Marco Polo trade finance network. Visa is also scaling up technology, recently officially launching its distributed ledger-based, non-card platform for high-value corporate, cross-border payments – ‘B2B Connect’.
"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. 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. It confirms our commitment to innovation, both home-grown and through partnerships and acquisitions, to support advances and innovation in the increasingly complex global payment infrastructure space” stated MasterCard Executive VP, New Payments Platforms, Peter Klein.
"Corda was designed specifically for enterprise use cases such as this, and we look forward supporting Mastercard in bringing blockchain-enabled payments businesses across the globe" added R3 CEO David Rutter.
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