Bank of America introduced its business-to-consumer payments solution in Canada as it continues to look for consistent digital solutions that clients can use across all its markets. 

Global Digital Disbursements, which launched on Aug. 29 and is available through the bank’s CashPro platform, offers business-to-consumer payment capabilities and consumer-to-business request-for-pay functionality, Leslie Konecny, head of product for Global Transaction Services (GTS) Canada, told Bank Automation News. 

The solution is built on Canadian payments rail Interac, which provides payment and value exchange services to more than 300 financial institutions in Canada, according to Interac’s website. 

Interac has become the “fabric of Canadian financial transactions for both consumers and for businesses and, over the last five years or more, it has evolved to also include business-to-consumer payments and more recently, business-to-consumer requests for payments,” Konecny said. “It’s become such a vital part of the Canadian economy.” 

In fact, 97% of consumer accounts in Canada are connected to Interac, making consumer adoption rather painless, Konecny said. 

Alias payments

The introduction of Global Digital Disbursements in Canada builds on Bank of America’s effort to solve business and consumer digital challenges in other markets, Maureen Jarvis, head of GTS Canada at Bank of America, told BAN. 

For one, clients generally are reluctant to give out banking information, but Interac “is very appealing to [clients] because you don’t have to provide that sensitive information,” Jarvis said. 

For example, if a bank client initiates a payment through Global Digital Disbursement on Interac, the payment instructions go through Bank of America’s CashPro platform, allowing clients to eliminate the need to include sensitive account information, Konecny said. Instead, the payment is triggered through a mobile phone number or email.  

Global client experience

Global Digital Disbursements is available in the United States on CashPro through Zelle and to 90 other countries via PayPal, Jarvis added, noting that in bringing the technology to Canada, “we’re creating that global client experience.” 

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