Mastercard has announced the launch of its business-to-business (b2b) payment service in the UK.

HSBC is the first issuer to bring ‘Mastercard Track’ to Britain.

The payment option enables business to use their commercial card programme to make payments to any supplier, regardless of whether the supplier accepts card payments.

“Mastercard is focussed on putting an end to the operational and financial challenges created by inefficient processes in B2B payments. With the new Mastercard Track Card to Account Transfer solution we are offering even more choices to banks in how they provide and adapt value-added services to their business customers,” said Kelly Devine, division president, Mastercard UK & Ireland. “Particularly in these difficult times, it’s critically important for businesses to have flexible and dependable payment options to smooth cashflow throughout the supply chain.”

The suite of products and services are already available to other markets around the world.

“This enhancement is a further step forward in the convergence of B2B Cards and traditional payments," said Brian Tomkins, global head of commercial cards, HSBC. "Mastercard Track Card to Account Transfer combines the security and working capital benefits of HSBC’s Virtual Cards with real-time-payments.

"Allowing our customers to make early payments while utilising the credit terms on their underlying card account, for extended days to pay. A number of customers are already benefiting from the service and we expect to see continued growth in this space with more Mastercard Track ecosystem use-cases to come.”

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