Bottomline has launched Global Pay Connect, a SaaS payment connectivity platform, and partnered with Chainlink on blockchain access.
According to Bottomline research cited in the announcement, 40% of chief financial officers identify outdated infrastructure as the main barrier to adopting real-time payments, while only 28% describe their institution's SaaS adoption as modern, API-enabled, and end-to-end. The company frames Global Pay Connect as a response to pressures on financial institutions to support real-time payments, ISO 20022 compliance, and cross-border transparency, alongside the emergence of new payment models.
The platform is designed to unify global and domestic payment connectivity across networks, including Swift, SEPA, SIC, Bacs, CHAPS, CHIPS, Lynx, and EBICS, as well as host-to-host connections. Bottomline describes four core areas of functionality: connectivity across these networks, modernisation through ISO 20022 transformation, payment data enrichment, and Message Vault capabilities, intelligence via real-time visibility into payment activity supported by AI-enabled insights, and control through operational resilience, compliance, and fraud prevention within a single platform.
Blockchain interoperability through Chainlink
Alongside the platform launch, Bottomline has entered into a Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Chainlink, a blockchain ecosystem infrastructure provider. The agreement is described as a milestone for Bottomline's Blockchain and Digital Assets strategy. Global Pay Connect is set to enable interoperability through Chainlink, connecting banks to multiple blockchain networks through a single, network-agnostic integration model that uses institutions' existing Bottomline connectivity.
Vitus Rotzer, Global Head of Banking GTM, Bottomline, said the shift in industry needs has moved from simple network connectivity towards infrastructure that can adapt to real-time payments, API-enabled services, and evolving payment models, adding that Global Pay Connect is intended to act as a bridge between current infrastructure requirements and future payment ecosystem developments, including digital assets and tokenisation.
Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs, described Bottomline as a top-three Swift service provider serving large financial institutions, and said the collaboration is intended to let institutions use their existing infrastructure to access onchain payment rails through a single connection.
Positioning within Bottomline's wider offering
Bottomline positions Global Pay Connect as one of several solutions it provides to banks and corporates for managing, protecting, and developing their payment operations. The company has not disclosed a rollout timeline or pricing structure for the platform beyond its announcement at Sibos Miami 2026. The partnership with Chainlink signals a broader move by established payment messaging providers to accommodate interoperability with blockchain-based rails, reflecting continued industry attention on how traditional and emerging payment networks might operate alongside each other under evolving regulatory frameworks such as ISO 20022.
