B-to-B payments

Visa’s recent green light from U.K. regulators to complete its Earthport acquisition was more than just the clearing of a regulatory hurdle — it was a revealing look at how important it has become for the card networks to diversify.

While in its infancy in influencing B2B payments, AI ultimately will change the way businesses of all sizes run their financial operations, writes Rene Lacerte, CEO of Bill.com.

Elavon has joined a collaboration of travel industry partners to streamline the way online travel agencies pay airlines using virtual cards.

Once banks offer digital invoice processing and order approvals, small businesses would no longer need to manage the risk and hassle of paper-based transactions, argues Erik De Kroon, CEO and co-founder of Yordex.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has added Apple Watch capabilities to its CashPro Mobile app, so business customers may approve corporate payments on the go.

Most do not have an independent treasury function, making cross-border finance difficult, contends Chen Amit, CEO and Co-founder of Tipalti.

Banks are not providing enough visibility into payments and cash flow to aid small businesses' decision-making, writes Erik De Kroon, CEO and co-founder of Yordex.

Using AI to verify receipts alleviates the need for auditors to aimlessly review every single receipt submitted within an expense report, says Travis Andrade, a senior product manager at AppZen.

More businesses are converting to electronic documents and management tools to streamline operations and cut costs, but those upgrades often skip the last part of that journey — how to accept B2B payments in a digital economy.

Bank of America Merchant Services is working with subscription management platform Recurly to help merchants generate revenue and drive subscriber engagement and customer loyalty.

Mastercard hopes to tap into existing partnerships and clients from multiple business lines to combine services in a single menu for small to mid-sized businesses, a market where fintechs have made great strides over the past few years, enough to draw extra attention from established companies.

Facebook’s pursuit of a crypto-based payment system would seem to be filled with potholes and red flags. The social network’s stealth project isn’t much of a secret, and another Facebook virtual currency has already failed years earlier. But Facebook also has a lot in its corner — enough to threaten the e-commerce and payment processing establishment, should its crypto project take off.

By using one anonymous, streamlined platform, it is easy to conduct B2B commerce anywhere while keeping transactions digital, allowing both parties to connect without leading to fragmentation within the market, writes Derek Wall, founder, CEO and CTO of HUBX.

In the wake of Zelle, Venmo and Apple Cash getting more active users and potential revenue, Square is relying on its Square Cash App and Cash Card as key drivers for its own growth.

The venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates has led a $200 million funding round in Divvy, a business payments and expense management platform provider.

While a majority of business payments are still made by checks, faster payments and increased cash flows will pressure a move to digital options, contends UMB's Brian Hutchin.

Because the cost of cross-border payments can substantially bite into profit margins for travel agencies, payments technology provider Ixaris and financial service infrastructure developers Banking Circle are partnering to eliminate that expense with virtual bank account numbers.

Vocalink, a Mastercard unit, is partnering with Saudi Payments, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority to launch real-time payments in the kingdom.

Less than a day after saying it would work with large core processors in a consolidating industry, Visa has struck a deal to link its B2B platform to FIS' bank clients.

Intuit Inc.'s QuickBooks is adding next-day ACH payments to its platform as a faster payments option for small businesses using its business management tools.