Harbour & Hills Takeover Opens B2B Payments Gateway To China

With a move that opens a B2B payment gateway to China, Harbour & Hills (H&H) Financial Services Limited said it has acquired a controlling stake in Global Envoi Limited (GEL). The arrangement provides H&H with a unique channel to facilitate payments to the country, according to an announcement from the company.

Harbour & Hills Financial Services CEO Rahul Tripathi said in the announcement, “While China is the major trading partner for almost all countries, sending payments to China is still challenging for businesses, especially for the SMEs/VSEs. However, with [the] Global Envoi acquisition, H&H overcomes this challenge by getting exclusive access to the PBOC central clearing system, thus effectively acting like a bank in sending payments to almost all major banks in China.”

H&H provides clearing services in U.S. dollars, as well as other currencies, to many destinations such as Korea, Indonesia and India. The company acquired an important channel to handle commercial payments in USD, GBP, JPY, EURO and other major currencies to all major banks in China, per the announcement. Global Envoi, for its part, has an exclusive Metropolitan Bank (China) Limited partnership for handling B2B payments in China.

A Metrobank Group subsidiary, Metrobank China is a fully licensed bank that can handle payments to all leading banks in the country, linked together via the nation’s central clearing system. Global Envoi Founder and CEO Ye Guimin said in the announcement, in part, “Global Envoi complements H&H’s capabilities and its infrastructure. The association of the two like-minded businesses offers a great opportunity for the SMEs/VSEs anywhere in the world to be able to make quick, convenient and cost-effective payments to China.”

In separate news, daVinci Payments had announced last year that it was releasing a Chinese yuan corporate-funded prepaid card for clients or staffers of multi-national companies. At the time, it was noted that the rollout makes DaVinci the first North American program manager with this offering.