Highnote, a platform for embedded finance and modern card issuance, this week announced the launch of Instant Payments, a new capability that enables businesses to deliver near real-time payouts from Highnote-issued cards to eligible external debit and prepaid cards. The solution is supported by Mastercard Move (Mastercard’s portfolio of money transfer solutions) and Visa Direct, and is now available to all Highnote subscribers in the U.S.
With Instant Payments, businesses can push funds to debit and prepaid cards in the U.S., giving recipients faster access to their earnings while improving liquidity and payout operations. Use cases include gig worker payouts, employee tips, insurance reimbursements, merchant settlements, refunds, and more.
“Instant Payments reflects both where our subscribers are today and where the market is headed,” said Kin Kee, CTO of Highnote. “By embedding on-demand disbursements directly into our issuing stack, we are helping businesses move money faster and more intelligently, all within a single, unified product experience.”
Unlike providers that offer push-to-card services as standalone point solutions, Highnote delivers Instant Payments as part of a fully integrated platform that includes issuing, acquiring, credit, and a built-in general ledger. This unified foundation enables businesses to manage the full payment lifecycle, from funding to disbursement and reconciliation, through a single, flexible integration.
“At Visa, we’re committed to providing seamless and secure money movement capabilities that help businesses and their customers access their funds in real-time,” said Yanilsa Gonzalez-Ore, SVP, Money Movement North America, Visa. “By enabling real-time funds transfers through Highnote’s platform, we’re helping businesses leverage Visa’s scale and robust security infrastructure to deliver faster and more reliable payouts.”
“Collaborating across the ecosystem is essential to ensure businesses can securely access critical funds in near real-time to keep their operations up and running,” said Stefany Bello, SVP, Digital Partnerships, Fintech & Enablers, Mastercard, North America. “This marks an exciting new chapter in Mastercard’s longstanding relationship with Highnote—one filled with opportunity to enable the seamless movement of money across key verticals and segments.”
Instant Payments is the first release in Highnote’s larger effort to unify outbound money movement through a single, programmable framework. Additional capabilities include support for ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, wallet-based transfers, stablecoin funding, and other emerging rails—all accessible through one API, with intelligent routing based on speed, cost, and destination.
