This week in Transaction Finance Weekly, Emirates NBD went live with real-time USD cross-border payments via the Partior network, while Deutsche Bank expanded escrow services across Asia Pacific and launched a EUR 1 billion ($1.14 billion) trade finance guarantee platform with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

Elsewhere, BBVA became the first Spanish bank to implement Swift's global retail payments scheme, HSBC UK extended EUR 250 million ($285.8 million) in financing to Bibby Financial Services, RAKBANK renewed its payments partnership with Mastercard, RHB Bank joined Malaysia's PayNet cross-border QR network, and Alipay+ expanded into Argentina's Transferencias 3.0 QR infrastructure.

Read more on the week’s key developments:

1. Emirates NBD goes live with real-time US dollar payments via Partior network

Emirates NBD has gone live on the Partior multi-currency clearing and settlement network, becoming the first bank in the region to enable real-time, blockchain-based cross-border US dollar payments through the infrastructure. Initial live transactions were settled via JP Morgan, which acted as both settlement and beneficiary bank. Corporate and institutional clients now benefit from 24/7 US dollar cross-border settlement through the bank's connection to Partior.

With this deployment, Emirates NBD can offer 24/7 US dollar settlement while bypassing traditional correspondent banking cut-off times. This improves transaction predictability and treasury efficiency for corporate clients, while reflecting banks' growing adoption of shared digital settlement infrastructure for cross-border payments.

2. Deutsche Bank and MIGA launch EUR 1 billion ($1.14 billion) trade finance guarantee platform

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group partnered with Deutsche Bank to establish a EUR 1 billion ($1.14 billion) trade finance guarantee platform. Under the framework, MIGA provides guarantees covering non-payment risk on trade finance transactions with selected state-owned banks, supporting essential imports and underserved client segments in frontier and emerging markets. The platform targets International Development Association (IDA) countries, Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations (FCS), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and sectors including agriculture, health and water.

The platform enables Deutsche Bank to extend trade finance where private risk appetite is constrained, while mitigating political and commercial payment risks associated with state-owned counterparties.

3. Deutsche Bank expands escrow services in South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia

Deutsche Bank has expanded its escrow services in South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia, strengthening its Trust and Securities Services offering across Asia Pacific. The expansion enables customers to execute complex transactions with on-the-ground escrow support, safeguarding funds and assets until predefined conditions are met. The services are particularly relevant for mergers and acquisitions, project finance, capital raising and other multi-party transactions, combining escrow with foreign exchange, custody, cash management and reporting to ensure funds are released only when agreed milestones are achieved.

The expansion strengthens Deutsche Bank's ability to manage complex, multi-party transactions across Asia Pacific. It improves control over milestone-based fund releases, reducing settlement risk and improving execution reliability for corporate and institutional clients.

4. HSBC UK extends $286 million facility to Bibby Financial Services to scale SME finance

Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has secured a EUR 250 million ($285.8 million) receivables financing facility from HSBC UK to expand working capital support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Europe and Asia. The back-to-back arrangement extends an existing partnership and maintains BFS's total funding capacity at more than GBP 1.1 billion ($1.5 billion). The facility also provides access to HSBC's Global Trade Solutions team, comprising more than 150 working capital specialists across 50 countries and territories.

The facility enables BFS to expand receivables financing across seven jurisdictions, increasing its capacity to provide working capital to SMEs operating internationally. HSBC UK's funding supports BFS's lending capacity, helping businesses access liquidity across multiple markets.

5. BBVA becomes first Spanish bank to launch Swift’s global retail payments scheme

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has become the first Spanish bank to implement Swift's new global retail payments scheme. The scheme enables retail and small business cross-border payments to reach beneficiary accounts faster with transparent fees and exchange rates. BBVA is participating as both Debtor Agent for outbound payments and Gateway Intermediary for incoming payments, using its BBVA Directa service integrated with Spain's Iberpay instant payments infrastructure. Beneficiaries can receive funds in around 25 seconds, 24/7, with upfront visibility of fees, exchange rates and delivery times.

By connecting Swift's global retail payments scheme to Iberpay, BBVA can deliver cross-border payments with the speed and transparency of domestic instant payments, reducing settlement times for international remittances and improving service for retail and SME clients.

6. RHB Bank integrates with PayNet’s cross‑border QR payment ecosystem

RHB Bank Berhad (RHB Bank) has integrated with Payments Network Malaysia’s (PayNet) cross‑border QR payment ecosystem, enabling its merchants in Malaysia to accept QR code transactions from a range of regional banking applications and e‑wallets (including payment products from China, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and South Korea) broadening cross‑border merchant payment acceptance.

The integration strengthens RHB’s merchant acquiring and corporate payments capabilities by facilitating regional payment acceptance and supporting tourism‑related commerce. The integration also shows how banks can leverage national shared payment infrastructures to support broader digital commerce strategies without individually building cross‑border rails.

7. RAKBANK and Mastercard deepen partnership to enhance corporate and retail payment solutions

RAKBANK has renewed its strategic partnership with Mastercard to expand digital payment capabilities across retail, business and wholesale banking. The collaboration focuses on digital transactions, embedded commerce and next-generation payment technologies, while enhancing corporate payment solutions, including expense management, supplier payments, cash flow and working capital visibility. The agreement builds on the banks' long-standing relationship and supports the UAE's broader objective of accelerating digital payment adoption.

The partnership strengthens RAKBANK's corporate payment and treasury offering through enhanced commercial card capabilities and real-time expense controls, while enabling more secure and integrated payment services using Mastercard's technology.

8. Alipay+ integrates with Argentina’s instant payment infrastructure through PVS partnership

Alipay+, Ant International’s global digital payment gateway, has integrated with Argentina’s interoperable QR payment infrastructure Transferencias 3.0 in partnership with fintech partner PVS, enabling international travellers to make QR code payments at millions of merchants using Alipay+ partner wallet apps. Transactions are settled in Argentine peso through the interoperable QR payment infrastructure.

By extending Alipay+ into Argentina’s domestic QR infrastructure, this initiative strengthens cross‑border merchant acceptance, bringing international mobile wallet payments into a national retail payments network. Although primarily a merchant/consumer payment innovation, the deployment has implications for transaction banking in regional economies where digital acceptance infrastructure supports broader corporate cash flows, reconciliation processes and merchant settlement services.

9. CSI acquires Qolo to strengthen and expand commercial banking and embedded finance capabilities

Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) a provider of end-to-end financial software and technology announced the acquisition of Qolo, a fintech specialising in modern treasury and payments infrastructure. The acquisition enhances CSI’s commercial banking solutions by enabling community financial institutions to deploy real-time account ledgers, multi-rail payment orchestration, and integrated corporate card programs. Qolo’s technology now serves as an orchestration layer across payments, accounts, and workflows, fully integrated with CSI’s core banking platform and Application Programming Interface (API) ecosystem.

With the Qolo acquisition, CSI can now deliver prepackaged, pre-integrated commercial banking capabilities to its community bank clients, enabling faster deployment of real-time treasury operations, cross-border and domestic money movement, and commercial card solutions.

10. Sokin launches Checkout and Payment Links to streamline UK corporate receivables

Sokin launched Sokin Checkout and Sokin Payment Links for UK businesses, enabling companies to accept payments via card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and other methods through a single platform. Payments settle directly into a company's Sokin account without separate integration. Payment Links enable businesses to generate secure payment requests via link or QR code with automated reminders and live status tracking, while Sokin Checkout provides hosted or embedded multi-currency payment pages for online storefronts and point-of-sale transactions.

At launch, the platform supports payments in USD, GBP, EUR and CAD across Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay. By integrating payment acceptance, foreign exchange and settlement on a single platform, Sokin streamlines corporate receivables and treasury workflows.

Transaction Finance Weekly is a briefing on developments shaping transaction banking, trade finance and supply chain finance globally.