Payments solutions provider Checkout.com has expanded its partnership with Mastercard to make ‘Mastercard Send’ available to its customers in the Asia Pacific region, starting in Australia and Hong Kong later this year.
The Mastercard Send service powers real-time payments for consumers, gig workers, content creators and organisations of all sizes. The service is already available in Singapore.
The partnership will now offer “near-instantaneous” pay-out capabilities for fintechs, banks, insurance companies, online marketplaces and merchants processing instant refunds or settlements, governments disbursing tax rebates, subsidies, as well as other use cases.
Through Mastercard Send, Checkout customers will also be able to process funding transactions between over 1.5 billion debit, credit, and prepaid Mastercard cards.
The firms explained that traditional payment methods no longer meet user expectations. The likes of check and wire transfers can be slow, costly and even risky – as businesses and consumers have minimal visibility over the real-time availability of funds.
Issuers have seen a 35 per cent increase in average monthly debit card spending when leveraging Mastercard Send. This also highlights the need for faster payments for accelerated growth.
Improving ‘the payments experience for customers’
Brian Sze, commercial head (APAC) at Checkout.com, commented on the partnership extension. Sze said: “Asia Pacific is a unique region that presents acquirers with significant growth opportunities. Having worked closely with our merchants to understand their specific objectives and pain points, the content creator economy stood out. It is a rapidly growing space where demand for instant pay-outs has proliferated, along with an expanding pool of independent freelancers seeking to monetise their work across various social media channels.
“Checkout.com’s MoneySend solution, powered by Mastercard Send, is the perfect way to enable them to receive funds safely, seamlessly and on-demand, giving users greater control and visibility of their finances.”
Sandeep Malhotra, EVP of products and innovation in Asia Pacific at Mastercard, also discussed the move. He said: “As organisations of all types and sizes, ranging from banks to retailers to governments, are realizing that their customers and constituents expect greater speed, wider choice, and tighter security in their payments, meeting these expectations has become a competitive necessity, not just a ‘nice to have’.
“As Mastercard Send offers over 30 use cases, merchants and acquirers can easily connect to these services to expand their offerings and improve the payments experience for their customers – just as Checkout.com has done.”
