New MasterCard Payment Gateway Breaks Down Payment Silos by Integrating and Automating B2B Payment Processing

Wells Fargo First to Offer Payment Systems Breakthrough that Connects Buyers and Suppliers and is Designed to Drive Efficiencies, Cost Savings and Revenue Opportunities

MasterCard Worldwide today announced the launch of the MasterCard Payment GatewayTM, a flexible enterprise-wide payment processing platform for routing commercial payments between buyers, suppliers and their financial institutions. This innovative offering gives companies a streamlined total payables solution designed to increase productivity and profits with enhanced security, while simplifying the entire payments process.

The MasterCard Payment Gateway addresses the needs of both financial institutions and their corporate customers across common payment types, including card and EFT. “We worked in close collaboration with our issuing financial institutions and their end customers when developing the MasterCard Payment Gateway,” said Art Kranzley, executive vice president and group executive, Advanced Payments, MasterCard Worldwide. “This solution provides financial institutions like Wells Fargo with the flexibility to customize components of the Gateway to meet the specific requirements of their corporate customers, thereby enabling them to differentiate themselves in the market. The Gateway places MasterCard at the heart of B2B commerce.”

“Corporations have been raising their voice and demands for more efficient, resilient and transparent payment systems. The financial institutions that are able to deliver against this demand will excel over the next five years. Market share of the nearly 10 billion annual business-to-business transactions will certainly shift in favor of those institutions that make it easier and faster,” comments Alenka Grealish, managing director of the banking group Celent LLC.

The modular nature of the MasterCard Payment Gateway provides financial institutions with an enterprise-wide electronic solution that they can re-brand and make available to their corporate customers, or integrate into their current product offerings to enhance their functionality and efficiency. This can enable them to increase payment volumes without building infrastructure, potentially grow profits with additional fees, deepen customer relationships and differentiate from the competition.

"By integrating the MasterCard Payment Gateway we extend the capabilities of our Payment Manager product so that it addresses the entire spectrum of needs our corporate customers face when managing their B2B payments lifecycle,” said Mary Mazzochi, senior vice president and manager of Wells Fargo’s commercial card product line. “Our customers can save money by breaking down the silos that traditionally exist across payments infrastructures and taking advantage of a streamlined total payables solution. Now they can automate their labor intensive payments processes, and increase productivity, enhance security and ultimately grow profits.”

The MasterCard Payment Gateway is a comprehensive, end-to-end, modular solution that offers several key features, including buyer-initiated P-Card straight through processing, which significantly enhances security and control for financial institutions and their corporate customers. Other features include:

o Single interface (“one stop shop”) for all payment processing needs
o User Interface/Web Portal for payment status and reporting
o End-User Integration (with current ERP/AP systems)
o Payment Rules Engine
o Supplier Diversity
o Remittance Information regardless of payment type

Suppliers that process payments with the MasterCard Payment Gateway enjoy automated payments with straight through processing, decreased paper check processing costs, automated reconciliation via enhanced remittance information for common payment types and preference among buyers that pay electronically.

Buyers that rely on MasterCard Payment Gateway drive efficiencies by streamlining their payment options, integrating with existing accounts payable processes and can save money by enabling one connection. Through this buyers can have one streamlined total payables solution that can help them increase productivity, enhance security and increase profits.

For more information about the MasterCard Payment Gateway go to www.mastercardpaymentgateway.com.