Brightwell Launches Cross-Border Payment Platform Focused on Reimbursements

Brightwell has launched a platform designed to let businesses deliver cross-border payments to their customers.

The new Latitude platform does so based on the customer’s currency, location and payment method, the global payments technology company said in a Tuesday (April 23) press release.

“Businesses across a variety of industries have made substantial investments in prioritizing the customer experience, striving to ensure safe, memorable and seamless interactions,” Brightwell CEO Larry Hipp said in the release. “However, when service disruptions occur, the reimbursement process can be confusing, and time-consuming, and customers can be left feeling powerless over resolving their issue.”

Brightwell’s Latitude platform is designed to solve this problem by making it easy for businesses to provide quick remediation to their customers, Hipp added.

With Latitude, customers receive a personalized URL link that lets them choose from multiple payout and currency options, according to the release.

The platform improves the process of providing remediation by delivering fast, transparent resolution for outstanding reimbursements; minimizing phone calls, emails and other back-and-forth discussions; eliminating the need to cut paper checks; and reducing the amount of time spent on corporate reimbursements, the release said. 

The solution is fully managed and has no code needed, so companies can get it up and running within weeks, per the release.

“Travel and hospitality brands routinely need to make one-off payments to a customer for various service disruptions, an often-complex process, particularly when the recipient resides in a different country,” the press release said. “With Latitude, Brightwell is revolutionizing the landscape of cross-border payments within all industries where payouts are needed by providing better efficiency, enhanced convenience and improved customer experience.”

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that when it comes to business reimbursements, B2B transfers and consumer bill payments, instant payments continue to gain ground.

Consumers choose instant payments not only for speed and convenience but also for a guarantee of funds and security, according to “Generation Instant: Business Expense Reimbursements,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Ingo Money collaboration.

In another recent development at Brightwell, the company said in January that it is using Visa Direct to allow payouts to eligible bank accounts and wallets worldwide.

That addition marked the continuation of a longer partnership between Visa and Brightwell, as they teamed up in 2023 to help customers launch cross-border payments programs.