Through this move, Azure customers can access ClearBank's banking solutions and payments infrastructure while also allowing the financial institution to further expand its operations. At the same time, ClearBank's users can now benefit from the Azure cloud platform, which delivers simplified deployment and management capabilities. This comes as the latest development in ClearBank's and Microsoft's partnership, which initially started in 2017. Before this initiative, the two companies worked on a sustainability move centred around creating carbon efficiency in payments and assisting the sector through low-carbon technology advancement and collaboration.
The announcement comes just a few months after ClearBank joined forces with Visa to enable clients to process local and cross-border payments. This partnership allowed ClearBank and Visa to work on Issuance and Money Movement solutions, assisting users in processing international and local transactions. Utilising ClearBank's cloud-native banking infrastructure was set to facilitate real-time payment processing, optimised transaction visibility, and simplified reconciliation when processing payments in the UK and Europe for Visa.
Besides minimising the complexity of the procurement process and supporting scalability, adopting ClearBank tools via Azure Marketplace is set to equip existing Microsoft customers with commercial benefits. Also, the Azure Marketplace implements advanced security, technology, and compliance requirements, with ClearBank's products having the ability to further build trust with buyers and sellers on the platform. The two companies plan to further modernise the financial sector by leveraging AI and automation tools, which are already providing scaled efficiency and allowing ClearBank analysts to focus on proactively supporting clients.
Furthermore, representatives from ClearBank commented on the announcement, mentioning that the long-standing partnership with Microsoft enabled their company to further expand its capabilities and footprint, allowing it to grow worldwide while accelerating its sustainability improvements. This initiative solidifies their alliance, opening up ClearBank's services to a broader pool of businesses as the company looks into entering more markets.