Finastra and Visa announced a Banking as a Service (BaaS) collaboration on September 22, 2022. 

This partnership will co-develop new features for Finastra’s Payments Hub solutions. It will also implement Visa Direct, a digital payment network connecting more than two billion accounts through push-to-account offerings. 

Finastra’s bank customers will now have access to cross-border payouts, with a specific targeting audience of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals. This new service will allow for international payments in multiple different currencies. 

Barry Rodrigues, executive vice president payments business unit at Finastra, said, “This BaaS partnership will allow banks to offer their customers greater choice in how to route cross-border payments. 

“It provides a solution for banks seeking to help increase overall customer satisfaction and loyalty through a transparent and cost-effective digital payments option.”

This new capability, offered by Finastra’s Payments Hub solutions and Visa Direct, bypasses challenges associated with deploying custom-built cross-border payment solutions––namely, expense and time-consuming processes. 

More specifically, the new feature, available on-premises or in the cloud through software as a service (SaaS), will enable banks to integrate the Visa network via Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud open development platform. They will be able to offer quick, low-cost payments for their customers with great transparency.

Ruben Salazar Genovez, senior vice president and global head of Visa Direct, said, “Innovation in cross-border money movement is accelerating at an incredible pace. 

“Banks are under pressure to quickly implement and launch programs for their customers that stay ahead of their expectations. 

“Together, we [Finastra and Visa] are bringing benefits of our network to thousands of banks globally, providing a wide range of new and existing case studies to clients.”