Citi Taps Mastercard Send for Payment Exchanges

Need to Know

• Citi’s corporate and public sector clients will now be able to use Mastercard Send to transfer funds to debit and prepaid cards.
• The partnership marks Citi as the largest global bank to implement Mastercard Send yet.
• Mastercard Send will be incorporated into Citi’s Payment Exchange, which allows commercial clients to send B2C payments, manage payee enrollment services, and more.

Analysis

Citi has partnered with Mastercard to integrate Mastercard Send, which allows commercial clients to send funds directly to consumers’ debit or prepaid cards.

Mastercard Send will become part of the tools available to Citi Payment Exchange customers, which currently include the ability for clients to send business-to-consumer payments, as well as payee enrollment services, a payee database, online payment preference management, an administrative platform, dedicated support, bank-grade data security, and storage. With Mastercard Send, clients can now avoid sending paper checks, while recipients will no longer need to wait for a check to arrive. Funds will be made available in almost real-time via prepaid or debit card accounts.

Citi is now the largest global treasury bank to implement Mastercard Send.

“We are pleased to offer our clients more choice when making payments to their consumers,” Alberto Casas, North America head of payments and receivables, with Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions. “In today’s world, consumers expect choice and offering customers a broader mix of payment options can provide a significant competitive advantage.” 

Launched in 2015, Mastercard Send is a global platform that enables funds to be sent quickly securely. Payments can be issued between governments and non-profits to consumers, between two consumers in the same country, and between two consumers in different countries.

“Mastercard is creating a future where payments keep pace with the way that we live, work, and do business, and we’re proud to be working with Citi to deliver Mastercard Send to their customers,” Chiro Aikat, EEVP of North America products and innovation at Mastercard, said in a statement. “Expanding our long-standing relationship with Citi allows us to provide more corporate and public sector organizations with game-changing services to transact in near real-time and with certainty.”

Both Citi and Mastercard have launched a number of digital-focused initiatives of late. Mastercard notably debuted quantum “future-proofed” payments in January of this year; the company’s Enhanced Contactless (Ecos) specifications make Mastercard the first company to bring quantum-resistant technologies to contactless payments. Citi, meanwhile, partnered with Bank of America to develop an independent data platform and launched a fintech marketplace for third-party companies late last year.