Moving money across borders can be complex, but at Checkout.com, we work to reduce that complexity so you can stay focused on the experience your customers expect.
In my role, I see the impact of speed every day. It’s why one of our core operating principles is: “Pace Matters”. We act with urgency and accountability because we believe speed is a critical enabler of success. It’s also fundamental to delivering what we believe in most: putting the customer first. Pace matters, and nowhere does it matter more than in the movement of money.
At a recent panel hosted by Checkout.com, I spoke about one of the industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities: how to move money faster.
We shared insights from conversations with senior payments specialists at major global tech companies operating across the Middle East and Africa to understand how speed is transforming customer expectations, powering performance, and reshaping the future of payments.
This article shares the biggest takeaways from that discussion, along with how Checkout.com is helping merchants discover the full value of funds, faster.
Speed builds trust and transforms customer behavior
Speed is central to how platforms build loyalty. For a marketplace that connects independent sellers with buyers, the ability to deliver fast, reliable payouts is essential to keeping supply chains moving. Sellers often depend on those funds to restock inventory, manage overheads, or respond to customer demand, and delays can stall the ability to trade. By accelerating payout cycles and giving sellers real-time visibility over funds, the platform empowers its community to stay agile, meet demand, and keep customers coming back.
Fast access to funds gives customers more control, and changes how they engage with a service. In the case of a money transfer platform used by people working abroad to support households back home, speed transforms how and when money moves. When transfers are fast and reliable, customers don’t wait to send a large amount each month, they send smaller sums more often. That flexibility makes the service feel more responsive, more trustworthy, and more central to day-to-day financial life.
At Checkout.com, we help remittance platforms deliver this experience through acquiring licenses in key markets and direct integration with local alternative payment methods. Our payments experts work closely with remittance businesses to improve acceptance rates, reduce processing costs, and enhance resilience – helping increase engagement and strengthen customer retention through every transaction.
A global content-sharing platform saw an immediate impact after enabling quicker payments to its creators. The ability to access funds more quickly built trust and encouraged greater engagement – creators were more motivated to produce content, knowing they would be paid sooner. This shift also reduced customer support issues, as faster payouts helped to eliminate common points of friction.
For remittance platforms, fast payouts are critical. Delayed disbursements can lead to missed rent payments, late bills, or groceries not purchased on time. Faster flows mean higher satisfaction, and more loyal senders.
If your customers are small businesses, quick payouts could be the difference between seizing a new opportunity or not, or missing payroll. Cash flow issues account for 82% of small business failures, so delays in accessing funds can significantly undermine the ability to operate and grow.
Card Payouts: Real-time reach, global scale
One of the biggest drivers of this shift is Card Payouts – a Checkout.com solution that enables UAE-based merchants to send funds to over 180 countries in 150 currencies using the Visa and Mastercard rails. We’re excited to be the first to launch Visa Direct and Mastercard Send in the MENA region.
This global, 24/7 solution is designed to help our merchants move money faster, domestically and internationally. Funds typically land within 30 minutes. It’s real-time money movement with real global reach. That speed makes a difference across countless use cases: from customer refunds and balance withdrawals to creator payments and gig worker disbursements.
Digital wallets are particularly prevalent in MENA. That’s why our Card Payouts solution also supports Apple Pay, enabling you to build a smooth, secure flow that collects card details from your users and triggers the payout instantly. It’s also built with customer experience in mind, offering a tailored UX to securely collect card details.
Crucially, it’s all accessible through the same global API that powers payins. If you’re already accepting payments with Checkout.com, you can start sending card payouts without adding a new integration. If you’re using our payout capabilities in other regions, it’s the same setup for the UAE. One API. One platform.
Faster funds. Greater flexibility
Faster money movement isn’t just about improving the customer experience. It’s also about helping businesses operate more efficiently, especially when managing liquidity across multiple markets.
Checkout.com’s Accelerated Settlements enable merchants to access revenue from transactions in real-time. With up to three same-day settlements per day, funds are made instantly available in your Checkout.com balance and can be settled to an external bank account within local banking hours, or used to power other Checkout.com products like Card Payouts or Issuing.
This means merchants can optimize treasury operations, reduce the need for borrowing, and reinvest sooner. For businesses juggling multiple suppliers, campaigns, and geographies, the agility is invaluable.
Lower costs, higher impact
Faster payouts do more than simplify operations, they can strengthen how a business performs and competes, and help to drive growth in competitive markets.
In practice, faster access to funds can help reduce costs across the board. Lower funding costs create room to offer more competitive pricing, which can increase volume. That, in turn, can help to improve leverage when negotiating FX rates, creating a positive cycle of growth and efficiency.
When merchants can access their revenue faster, they can use that capital more efficiently – earning interest, reinvesting in growth, or avoiding unnecessary idle balances.
Closing the gap between payins and payouts
One of the biggest shifts ahead will be integration. That means addressing the inefficiencies of working with separate providers for payins and payouts.
At Checkout.com, we’re working to close that gap. The Business Account allows merchants to bring payins and payouts closer together. It makes it possible to accrue funds from incoming payments, use that same balance to fund payouts, and settle the remainder with speed, clarity, and control. It’s designed to support a more efficient and better-connected treasury model.
This is especially useful for ecommerce merchants looking to scale. They can reinvest revenue faster, simplify reconciliation, and reduce FX and funding costs, all without changing providers or increasing operational complexity.
For larger businesses, this shift matters just as much. When access to revenue is delayed, managing capital becomes harder. It limits your ability to respond to opportunities or keep up with rising expectations from customers and partners.
Looking ahead
The ability to move money quickly influences how a company performs, how it operates, and how well it serves its customers.
At Checkout.com, we continue to invest in the infrastructure that enables faster, more reliable money movement. That includes giving merchants greater access to funds, helping manage liquidity more efficiently, and building tools that bring payins and payouts closer together.
Pace matters. When money moves faster, so can your business.
To explore how this could support your own operations, contact our sales team today
