Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, announced today that it has partnered with Earthport, a specialist in cross-border payments services, to provide a solution for international payments processed through the automated clearing house (ACH).
This partnership will enable Fiserv clients to seamlessly process low value, cross-border payments through PEP+, an online, real-time solution for originating and receiving ACH payments.
The integration of Earthport into the PEP+ solution will allow Fiserv clients that process low value, cross-border payments to improve efficiency, enhance customer satisfaction, lower costs to serve customers and increase growth and reach by creating one solution for both domestic and international cross-border payments processing. Earthport uses an innovative payments framework specifically designed for high volumes of low value cross- border payments that provides access to local clearing schemes in more than 50 countries.
"PEP+ is the leading domestic ACH processor and now, with the integration with Earthport, we will expand that reach globally," said Rahul Gupta, president, Digital Payments Solutions Group, Fiserv. "The commitment that we have always shown to payments within the U.S. will now expand to cross-border ACH payments - a capability our customers have requested."
Lower value, cross-border payments is a high-growth market:
• 15 percent of eCommerce transactions are made by overseas buyers, according to research from Glenbrook Partners in their report: 'Cross-Border Payments Perspectives'
• Research from The World Bank shows that remittance payments from foreign workers to friends and family in their native countries totaled $440.077 billion in 2010
"We see increasing demand from financial institutions' clients for cross-border payments as a result of globalization," said Gareth Lodge, senior analyst, Banking Practice, Celent. "The ability for financial institutions to offer an increased range of international payment options through a process that is complementary to their domestic payments strategy creates a strategic advantage and allows for greater efficiencies in processing."
"Our partnership with Fiserv will deliver significant value to PEP+ clients and provide them one window for both domestic and international low value payments processing," said Paul Thomas, executive director, Earthport. "Regulation is demanding more transparency for cross-border payments, and our innovative technology platform was designed from the outset to address this requirement for cross-border corporate and consumer payments."
Recognized as the industry standard in ACH processing for nearly three decades, more than 10 billion, or roughly 50 percent, of all ACH transactions in the U.S, were processed through Fiserv technology in 2011.