Mastercard and Octet Europe enable European small businesses to thrive in the global economy

New platform enables SMEs to simplify how they build a trusted value chain, conduct secure payments, manage cash flows and simplify back office functions.

Today, Mastercard and Octet Europe announce the launch of a new trade solution across the European Economic Area (EEA). The Mastercard Trade Solution powered by Octet Europe helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow their business by managing any business transaction in a safe, real time and more efficient way. Powered by Octet, the Mastercard Trade Solution facilitates domestic and cross border trade by enabling a trusted value chain, secure payments, management of cash flows and simplifying back office functions thereby supporting economies globally by powering the vital SME sector.



SMEs are an indispensable part of our economy, accounting for two thirds of jobs in most countries and driving greater economic inclusiveness.[1] Expanding international or “cross border” trade is a key driver of many SMEs' performance and competitiveness. Despite their critical role in the economy, however, small businesses are underrepresented in international trade: only a quarter of European SMEs export.[2] To help these small businesses integrate into the global economy and fulfill their potential, Mastercard and Octet Europe have teamed up to provide a tailored solution.

The Mastercard Trade Solution is directly accessible and encompasses Octet Europe’s state-of-the-art, cloud based B2B trade platform, which thoroughly reviews each company in its network. Specifically, all members transacting on the Octet platform are extensively verified via industry-leading Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) and Economic Trade Sanctions (ETS) processes to reduce the risk for all parties in the network. This provides peace of mind for SMEs who want to find new business partners abroad and access foreign markets.

One additional challenge for small businesses’ is access to finance. To overcome this, the new trade solution enables SMEs to use their Mastercard cards as powerful tools to manage their cashflows and pay any suppliers to grow their business, while enjoying their valuable card benefits and reward points. Mastercard Trade Solution and Octet Europe are able to leverage Mastercard for payment services. The platform provides greater flexibility on the preferred payment method for businesses.  In practical terms, this means that buyers have the choice to pay by card even if the supplier doesn’t process card payments; meanwhile sellers can accept payments to their bank accounts regardless of how the buyer chooses to pay. This flexibility empowers companies to transact in their preferred way, be it by card or another payment method, thus enabling them to manage their finances more effectively and conveniently.

The tool also helps small business owners manage and simplifying multiple tasks by enabling them to track, validate and authorise every step of a business transaction and settle B2B purchases using cards (debit or credit) with full visibility of all supporting trade documentation.

Milan Gauder, Executive Vice President of Product and Innovation at Mastercard Europe noted: “Small business owners can incur a lot of expenses by running detailed background checks on their supply chain, especially if it involves cross-border suppliers. This in turn can limit their willingness and ability to grow their business internationally. The Mastercard Trade Solution powered by Octet will help the vital SME sector thrive in the global economy by unlocking their potential with flexibility, confidence and peace of mind. At Mastercard, we are committed to remaining the partner of choice for businesses of all sizes and to powering economies.”

Margrith Lutschg-Emmenegger, CEO and Co-Founder Octet Europe noted: “We are excited and delighted to be partnering with Mastercard and see tremendous potential in making our unique product offering available to SMEs across Europe via their powerful partner network. It is an exceptional opportunity to create more usage of corporate cards for procurement and trade, which will greatly support SME’s and their role in sustaining global supply chains.”

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About Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

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About Octet Europe Octet Europe is a fintech franchise of Octet Australia, serving the needs of more than 100,000 companies in 68 countries for the past 12 years. Octet Europe is also part of a global network of fintech’s  using the same technology – Octet Finance (Australia and New Zealand), Octet Turkey, Octet Trading, Accord Financial (Canada and USA), Asia Factors and Bank of Nanjing.

Follow Octet Europe on LinkedIn for latest news and www.octeteurope.com

 

Contact:

For Mastercard: Rose.Beaumont@mastercard.com / Aylin.Fastenau@mastercard.com
For Octet: contact@octeteurope.com

 

[1] https://www.oecd.org/trade/topics/small-and-medium-enterprises-and-trade/
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/access-to-markets_en