Visa and KOTRA to Launch B2B Payment Platform in South Korea

Visa and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) have partnered to launch a card payment platform for trade settlements in South Korea.

The new Global Trade Payment Platform (GTPP) is scheduled to go live by the end of October, Visa said in a Wednesday (Sept. 11) press release.

At launch, GTTP will support payments from five of South Korea’s top 10 trading partners: Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, the United States and Mexico, according to the release. Later, within the next three years, it is expected to extend to include 20 countries.

“Visa is committed to facilitating seamless, convenient and secure business transactions through our global network,” Chavi Jafa, head of Visa Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, Asia Pacific, said in the release. “This platform launch is particularly meaningful given the high growth potential in Korea’s B2B payment market.”

With GTTP, domestic small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and overseas buyers registered as members can send and receive payments, according to the release.

The digital platform helps domestic companies by processing export payments and allows overseas buyers to make trade payments by simply entering their card number, the release said. It is also available by mobile.

In addition, GTTP shortens the payment receipt period for Korean exporters; has payment costs that are lower than standard card payment fees and are designed to be shared between exporters and buyers; and improves fraud prevention by incorporating verification steps during the card issuance process, per the release.

“Small and medium businesses are the backbone of the economy, and through our partnership with KOTRA and GTTP’s payment experience, we look forward to accelerating SMB growth in the region,” Jafa said in the release.

Embedded finance is emerging as a transformative force in B2B commerce, Alan Koenigsberg, senior vice president and global head of large, middle market, industry verticals and working capital solutions at Visa, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in an interview posted in July.

“We’re likely to see larger firms take up the embedded finance mantle, and smaller enterprises will follow suit,” Koenigsberg said, adding that consumer-like experiences online will help bring analog B2B interactions fully into the digital realm.