While most payment firms consider checking a time-consuming expensive relic for business transactions, one San Francisco-based fintech is going the opposite direction by adding checks to its digital platform.
Veem, which specializes in cross-border and domestic B2B payments, on Wednesday rolled out Veem Check, enabling U.S. businesses to issue check payments as easily as ACH and real-time debit push payments.
The move was an unexpected result of the coronavirus outbreak, said Marwan Forzley, Veem’s founder and CEO.
“When the pandemic started, our customers began asking for help tracking physical check payments, because remote workers weren’t able to get to their offices to send and receive checks, creating chaos,” Forzley said.
Veem responded by developing a mechanism enabling B2B payment senders and receivers to issue and track the progress of checks via desktop or smartphone as easily as any other digital payment.
“Everyone expects checks to go away eventually, but as long as they’re still around we had to find a way for them to flow through the platform too,” Forzley said.
When Veem launched five years ago, Forzley didn’t expect to be developing check-issuing capabilities as late as 2020.
“It’s ironic that we’re focusing on checks at this point, but what’s actually happening is we’ve found ways to modernize the way we handle checks so they’re not such a big hassle,” he said.
The majority of Veem’s business still centers on cross-border payments, but the company has long supported domestic payments through its pay-as-you-go model, Forzley said.
The updated solution continues to integrate with Quickbooks and Xero accounting systems.
