Mastercard and Bank of Shanghai enable cross-border B2B payments to China
Mastercard and Bank of Shanghai have partnered to support international businesses to send money to China. With Mastercard Cross-Border Services, business customers will be able to transfer funds to any local bank in China and access real-time exchange rates for the Chinese Yuan.
“China is a critical market for Mastercard’s customers, so we are delighted that Bank of Shanghai will help us advance the modernisation of cross-border payments into China” said Stephen Grainger, executive vice president of Mastercard’s New Payment Platforms. “Our Cross-Border Services will enable our global partners to deliver a more convenient, cost-effective and certain payment experience for people and businesses everywhere”.
According to the World Bank’s China trade statistics, available on its World Integrated Trade Solution, China is now the largest export economy in the world and in 2018 it exported $2.49 trillion to destinations including the United States ($479 billion), Japan ($147 billion), South Korea ($109 billion), and Vietnam ($84 billion).
Last year in June, J.P. Morgan became the first bank to announce a solution that fully digitises and automates cross-border payments of goods for Chinese markets. Under a trade deal between USA and China that was signed in January 2020, Mastercard, Visa and American Express were allowed to apply for license to operate in mainland China for payments operation.
“Now, more than ever, it is critical for us to support our customer’s international trade requirements, ensuring efficient and timely cross-border payments” commented Huang Tao, vice chairman of Bank of Shanghai. “Enabling Mastercard Cross-Border Services will ensure an improved cross-border payment solution with high efficiency, low cost and enhanced compliance”.