Visa and Sunrate Team on X-Border Business Payments

Visa and payment and treasury management platform Sunrate have teamed to boost its cross-border payment offerings.

The partnership allows Sunrate customers to send and receive money directly to eligible Visa debit and prepaid cards, according to a Thursday (June 15) press release.

“The appetite for quicker and more accessible cross-border payments continues to grow as businesses look for better ways to pay and be paid,” Deepan Dagur, head of money movement for Visa’s Asia-Pacific operations, said in the release. “Together with Sunrate, Visa is simplifying cross-border payments by being the single connection point for clients to move money easily and efficiently.”

Earlier this year, Sunrate debuted a Visa virtual commercial card as part of its online travel solution, per the release.

The partnership is happening as companies in a range of industries continue to deal with cross-border payments frustration.

For example, the study “Meeting the Demand for Cross-Border Hiring: Challenges in International Workforce Payment and Management,” a PYMNTS and Nium collaboration, examined some of the issues around cross-border hiring and payments.

While 20% of companies surveyed for the study said they had no issues with either hiring or making payments across borders, 14% of organizations pointed to paying workers in other countries as a pain point.

The study noted that middle-income companies struggle to manage and pay international hires more than smaller firms, while not having the same resources as larger organizations.

“Ironically, we found organizations that have experienced the most challenges when managing and paying overseas workers have significantly increased their cross-border workforce, which suggests they are committed to growing internationally despite the obstacles,” PYMNTS wrote.

Another cross-border payment pain point is the length of time it takes for international transactions to settle, although industry leaders said this situation will soon improve as future-fit efforts are underway.

These include next-generation real-time payment initiatives from SWIFT, ongoing development of and experimentation with blockchain-based solutions like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and other digital-first platforms and solutions.

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