Cross-border payments in the MENA region have faced challenges such as high costs, slow processing times and limited transparency. To address these issues, Mastercard has joined Buna, the cross-border payment system operated by the Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organisation (ARPCSO), owned by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).
Buna enables financial institutions and central banks in the Arab region and beyond to send and receive payments in local and key international currencies in a secure, cost-effective and transparent environment.
By integrating Mastercard’s Move network with Buna’s infrastructure, this partnership aims to streamline payments between MENA and the rest of the world, improving efficiency and promoting greater financial inclusion across the region.
To learn more about how this partnership will shape the future of cross-border payments in MENA, we spoke with Alan Marquard, head of transfer solutions at Mastercard, who shared insights on the collaboration’s potential impact.
Alan Marquard, head of transfer solutions at Mastercard
How does the cost and speed compare to others working in the MEA remittance space?
Both Mastercard Move customers and Buna participants can leverage their existing technical and operational investments to reduce friction, time to market and improve cost of servicing customers.
Mastercard Move provides banks, non-bank financial institutions, direct disbursers, and their customers with a fast, secure money transfer solution, both domestically and internationally.
The portfolio of solutions reaches more than 180 countries and 150-plus currencies, with access to more than 95 per cent of the world’s banked population. Mastercard through its acquisition of Transfast has been a leader in the MENA remittance market serving our customers for over 20 years.
How does this partnership help Mastercard scheme participants work within the heavily fragmented MENA region?
With Mastercard’s joining as a direct participant and integrating into Buna’s scheme, Mastercard Move customers outside of MENA looking to pay into the region will benefit from the work Buna has done to build an ecosystem that that addresses current cross-border challenges in the region: reduction in cost, efficient access to reach all participants and support for multiple settlement currencies. Buna participants will also be able to leverage their existing Buna infrastructure to connect to Mastercard Move’s extensive network.
For both types of customers, benefits are derived from existing connections and relationships reducing complexity and improving time to market and ongoing operations.
Can you explain the integration between schemes?
It is Mastercard that is integrating with Buna. For a Mastercard Move customer, there is no further integration needed to connect to Buna, so it is indeed a seamless process for the customer.
How do you deal with and protect against fraud?
We maintain our established approach for handling fraud, even before joining Buna, ensuring consistency and reliability. Buna additionally deploys a transaction monitoring tool that we aim to leverage to complement our existing fraud monitoring capabilities.
The post Mastercard’s Entry into Buna: What It Means for the Future of MENA Cross-Border Payments appeared first on The Fintech Times.
