Earthport Mastercard

Mastercard Cross-Border Services rails post-acquisition.

Definition

Earthport operated a 90+ country network via local bank partnerships for push-to-bank-account payments (local ACH), bypassing SWIFT correspondent banking and its fees. The 2019 Mastercard acquisition was preceded by a Visa-Mastercard bidding war (Visa had offered then withdrawn). Rebranded Mastercard Cross-Border Services in 2020.

Origin

Earthport plc founded 1997 (London), IPO AIM 2001, acquired by Mastercard in 2019 ($300M cash).

Usage

Use cases: insurance payouts to account, gig economy worker payouts, e-commerce marketplace payouts, cross-border B2B AP.

Related terms

• Mastercard Send — plateforme bénéficiaire.
• Cross-border payments — catégorie.
• ACH — rail terminal.