NEW REPORT: Western Union’s Legacy ‘Street Cred’

There was a time when the telegraph was as important to keeping people connected as the smartphone is today. And while the telegraph’s heyday may well be over, the network it once rested upon can still be put to good use, especially with an assist from API solutions.

As more merchants and smaller businesses seek to engage in global commerce, several companies are stepping up their efforts to help merchants address the complexities presented by international trade. The June PYMNTS.com B2B API Tracker, a collaboration with FI.SPAN, looks at the various API solutions companies are developing to reduce the friction involved in cross-border trade.

Here’s a Snapshot of Some Recent Notable B2B API News:

The past few weeks also saw some notable developments in the remittance market. Cross-border payment solutions company Flywire and payment platform Cashnet are offering a new service aimed at making it easier for international students studying abroad in the U.S. to exchange money between borders. South of the equator, telecom company Vodafone and mobile payment network TransferTo are offering a new solution for Fijians living in Australia to send roughly $500 million back home to loved ones through remittance services.

As more SMEs seek to participate in cross-border trade, the challenges involved — from language barriers to FX conversion rates — are becoming clearer.

Seeking to address these challenges, several FinTechs are stepping up their efforts to help merchants as they seek to take their business and products to the world stage. Logistics provider FedEx and global payment gateway provider BlueSnap collaborated to help SMEs and global consumers conduct business in their preferred languages, currencies and payment types in an effort to boost online checkout rates. In the cross-border payment space, marketing affiliate network ShareASale and B2B cross-border payment company Payoneer collaborated to help over 100,000 bloggers in over 50 countries get paid in the currency and method of their choice.

Taking X-border Payments from Telegraph to API

When it comes to navigating the issues presented by cross-border trade, experience can come in handy. On that note, Western Union, which started as a telegraph service in the 19th-century and has since evolved and maintained a vast network of rails and payment infrastructure to transfer money across borders, has plenty of experience to offer SMEs seeking to get into cross-border commerce. For the June Tracker feature story, PYMNTS caught up with Rolf Haag, director of Global Mass Payments for Western Union Business Solutions, about how the company’s API solutions are helping merchants access the company’s years of experience and payment infrastructure to participate in cross-border commerce.

Take a look inside the June B2B API Tracker for the feature story, along with all the latest news and headlines from around the space.

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To download the June edition of the PYMNTS.com B2B API Tracker, fill out the form below…

About the Tracker

The PYMNTS.com B2B API Tracker, a FI.SPAN collaboration, serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the segments that comprise the B2B API ecosystem.