Octet Finance, a supply chain finance platform for small and medium businesses, and global payments player MasterCard have signed an agreement that will allow their respective SME customers to pay global suppliers quickly and securely. Octet CEO Clive Isenberg said, "The alliance with MasterCard is another step towards replacing antiquated transaction and payment methods with a secure gateway to procure and fund business to business transactions." In effect, SMEs will use their MasterCard debit and credit cards to make same day cross-border payments to suppliers.  "Using letters of credit, and manual documentation, while running payments through the SWIFT network, could take up to five days. What we are doing through our platform is allowing the buyer to execute on the same day and make the payment through a MasterCard account," said Brad Kean, Octet's head of partnerships for Asia-Pacific. In effect, the payment is made to the supplier in advance of the rest of the transaction running through the SWIFT network. Kean said one reason this works is because Octet can use available data to understand the risks and credit quality associated with a transaction better than the banks, in particular the correspondent banks. MasterCard's scale is another aspect that sweetens the deal for Octet. "The Octet platform, in conjunction with MasterCard's capabilities, removes friction from complex finance and often manual processes while providing full transparency and visibility of transactions," said Andrew Cartwright, country manager for MasterCard Australia. He noted that, apart from rewards points, there are the working capital benefits of up to 55 payment free days provided by the issuer. The platform also chips away at another profitable area of business for the big banks - FX margins. Kean said that typically the exchange rates on offer to Octet customers could be up to five per cent below the spread on offer via telegraphic transfers with the major banks.