B-to-B payments

Signature Bank on Jan. 1 will open its Signet Platform to support real-time settlement for commercial payments. The bank is collaborating with trueDigital Holdings, a New York-based blockchain infrastructure, exchange and settlement technology company.

TransferMate, a cross-border B2B payments provider based in Ireland, has announced plans to buy Devisenwerk, a Swiss foreign exchange firm, to expand its capabilities and geographic reach.

Mainstream payment companies are quickly siding with fintechs to dilute the weight of paper on accounts payable and supply chains. American Express is pushing change by making it less of an ordeal.

B2B transactions are still heavily reliant on checks, and a lot of fintechs hope businesses are ready to break the habit. Silicon Valley fintech Coupa’s part of the parade of innovation, offering a virtual card and a payments-as-concierge approach.

Credit unions are well positioned to serve small businesses, but they'll lose that opportunity if they're not adequately protecting those members' cash flow.

Taking a cue from his previous success in commercial cash checking services, Conext CEO Michael Casalini hopes a Venmo-style mobile app that supports a quick conversion of checks to digital money can attract small businesses.

The ploys vary widely—digital tracking, fee incentives and "coopetition"—but banks are turning up the volume on innovation to pry businesses away from checks and keep them from signing up with rival tech startups.

To make commercial cards more viable, stakeholders in the B2B payments ecosystem need to break down traditional constructs and dynamically price card transactions so that they complement the commercial relationship between buyers and supplier, according to Dean Leavitt, CEO of Boost Payment Systems.

Right on the heels of securing a partnership with Amazon to benefit small business owners, American Express is launching a new Business Gold Card designed to reward spending in key categories and offer extra management tools.

Visa and Billtrust are pressuring businesses to embrace automation by developing a directory of suppliers who accept digital payments.