SOUTH AFRICA – Ukheshe, a fintech platform, has unveiled Mastercard’s Track Instant Pay for clients in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, which it says helps modernise business-to-business transactions.
With the Track Instant Pay solution, Ukheshe says businesses are able to process live instant payments, increasing efficiency on transactions.
Track Instant Pay is a next-generation virtual card solution that uses machine learning and straight-through processing to enable instant payment of supplier invoices and Ukheshe says it the first of its kind.
According to the fintech firm, this new solution enables seamless transactions, reducing pain points such as late payments, which it says has been a long-standing source of friction between buyers and suppliers.
Paul Selibas, president for channel solutions at Ukheshe, explains the significance of the Track Instant Pay solution saying, “It safely and intelligently authorises immediate payments to a supplier once a supplier submits an invoice.
“First, it analyses received invoices using sophisticated machine learning to identify those likely to be rejected, then authorises the rest for payment on the same day.
“These payments are sent digitally, directly and securely to the supplier’s bank account via a Mastercard virtual card. It eliminates all the usual manual processes, from verifying and manually approving invoices to manual payments or lengthy cheque processing.”
Further, Selibas says, within emerging markets across Africa and the Middle East, there is a specific and growing need for a system that can facilitate corporates in paying multiple large municipal bill payments at once and Track Instant Pay addresses that on all fronts.
“It benefits every involved party – it unlocks cashflow for suppliers who usually suffer lengthy payment terms or late payments; saves valuable time, costs and working capital for buyers; and it removes friction to improve business relationships,” Selibas said.
“Buyers can manage their working capital more efficiently using the credit line tied to their commercial card account; while unique, dynamically-generated virtual account numbers with layers of control provide enhanced security for supplier payments.”
The Future of Virtual Card Transactions
Ukheshe and its turnkey Eclipse platform is already Mastercard’s preferred implementation partner in South Africa, having successfully launched Africa’s first Mastercard virtual card for use on WhatsApp last year.
The card giant once again appointed Ukheshe as its partner in this solution. Anton Coertzen, CCO at Ukheshe, says this type of technology could change the business landscape forever.
“Mastercard’s solution, combined with Ukheshe’s Eclipse platform, can change the way businesses manage payments – saving time, money and energy for all parties involved,” he said.
“With Eclipse, we can add new services to our clients’ suite so that it grows with them when their needs, and those of their own clients or suppliers, change over time. It fits perfectly into Ukheshe’s vision of fintech enablement, modernising business-to-business transactions and financial inclusion.”
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