Mastercard has announced the launch of Mastercard Send in the UK to allow FIs, fintechs, digital customers and other businesses to send real-time payments to UK bank accounts. The service will connect to the Faster Payments network, enabling a variety of use cases such as peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and business-to-consumer (B2C) disbursements. Mastercard has chosen Starling Bank as its strategic partner for settlement services in the UK. Starling manages the funds that are to be disbursed before they are pushed to individual accounts via Faster Payments The first UK customer for the service will be Income Group, a payroll-focused payment provider.
Income Group customers in the UK can now make real-time payments, following the launch of Income Group Send. The service covers both peer-to-peer and business-to-consumer transactions, with Mastercard the first to use it. Income Group said Starling Bank had been appointed its strategic partner for UK settlement services.