Standard Chartered Integrates Visa Direct to Enhance Low-Value Global Disbursements

Global bank Standard Chartered integrated the digital payment network Visa Direct to add greater speed, transparency and cost efficiency to its SC PrismFX and low-value global disbursements offerings.

The integration enables Standard Chartered to route payments directly to beneficiary bank accounts through domestic ACH and instant payment rails and other local low-value payment systems, the bank said in a Wednesday (Oct. 15) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

The service supports multiple currencies and will expand to include more, according to the release.

“The expansion complements Standard Chartered’s broader cross-border instant payments future product roadmap,” the bank said in the release.

Standard Chartered launched SC PrismFX in January, saying the suite of cross-currency transactional foreign exchange solutions integrates the bank’s transaction banking, financial markets and digital platforms to provide FX payments services across more than 130 currencies in more than 40 markets.

These solutions are available to financial institutions, nonbank financial institutions, PayTechs and corporate clients.

Visa Direct is a digital payment network that connects cards, currencies and markets across the globe, according to its web page. In 2024, the network served more than 11 billion endpoints, integrated 160 currencies and had more than 195 enabled countries and territories.

The network enables money movement for more than 65 use cases, including domestic peer-to-peer, cross-border remittances, account-to-account transfers, and payouts to workers, small businesses and consumers.

Standard Chartered’s integration of Visa Direct marks a deepening of the bank’s existing collaboration with Visa, according to the Wednesday press release.

In April 2024, Standard Chartered partnered with Visa to facilitate cross-border B2B payments for the bank’s corporate clients.

The bank joined the Visa B2B Connect multilateral payment network and became Visa’s settlement partner for a set of currencies. Visa B2B Connect enables faster and frictionless account-to-account cross-border payments.

“Visa is committed to modernizing cross-border payments around the world, and the collaboration with Standard Chartered will extend our network even further,” Ben Ellis, senior vice president and global head of Visa B2B Connect at Visa, said in an April 2024 press release. “We are excited to be partnering with Standard Chartered to simplify and speed up transactions for their clients, cutting out middlemen and reducing costs for a more efficient and secure way to move money globally.”