How Named Virtual Accounts Work in an International Payment Gateway

Virtual accounts help tremendously with saving time and money for your eCommerce business, especially when your business begins to expand and grow to accommodate multiple cash flows from international markets. It certainly is a step-up from simply registering to a local business entity and all the paperwork that comes with it.

That being said, in the context of international payments, what are named virtual accounts and how do they work in an international payment gateway?

Bank Transfer as a Payment Method in an International Payment Gateway

To know how a named virtual account works, it is important to know how a bank transfer works as a payment method in an international payment gateway. The reason for this being that having a virtual account in an international payment gateway is practically not much different from making a bank transfer.

A payment made with a bank transfer is asynchronous and typically trades off speed for reliability and low payment fees, among other things. Once the payment is made, the chosen international payment gateway processes this payment upon receipt confirmation and releases it to the merchant. The payment is considered complete once the customer is notified of the successful payment.

What is a Named Virtual Account

A named virtual account is essentially a virtual account that is registered under the name of the business entity whose account they’re linked to. Functionally, they are the exact same as a regular virtual account with the main difference being the additional trust that your business’ brand name carries.

How this Looks like in an International Payment Gateway

How a payment made in an international payment gateway through a virtual account is fundamentally the same as one made with a standard bank account in a bank transfer.

For instance, instead of paying into "Tazapay Pte. Ltd." and the payment gateway's bank account during checkout if the buyer chooses to pay via bank transfer, they will see the merchant's name and virtual bank account number to transfer to instead.

The key difference between paying internationally via a gateway on its own versus paying into a virtual account is that the payment is first paid into the business’ virtual account before being disbursed into the business’ main settlement account. With the nature of virtual accounts being that they each have their own unique account number, it would make it easier for the business to identify the payer’s details through the virtual account number.

The details the business can access are not just limited to customer information as it also includes an overview of all transactions taking place across departments and countries.

Now that you are familiar with named virtual accounts, why not make one for yourself and your business? While you’re at it, why not also look for a suitable international payment provider like Tazapay to make your business endeavours much simpler? With payment solutions tailored for everyone from eCommerce platforms to exporters and importers, Tazapay will have a solution that suits your needs.