B-to-B payments

E-invoicing is the solution to unlock early-payment discounts, but many businesses are stuck in the past, according to Roger Hatfield, vice president of North America for CloudTrade.

South Asian remittance firm InstaReM has launched its cross-border P2P and B2B digital money transfer service in the U.K. and the EU as it prepares for an IPO in 2021. It also expects to become profitable by then.

Wirecard has created a blockchain-based B2B application to streamline payments for merchants buying raw materials like coffee, crude oil and steel.

The Patriot Act, for example, requires all U.S. businesses to comply with regulations issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Those that fail to comply, knowingly or inadvertently, are susceptible to significant fines and even legal action, writes Peter Shore, general manager of Transpay.

Incumbent bank wires and checks, for example, carry slow settlement times and poor exchanges rates, while some newer fintech alternatives lack the interoperability with one another to scale and sometimes prioritize speed over security, writes Peter Shore, general manager of Transpay

For voice to truly thrive in business and enterprise settings, the technology must handle complicated transactions, such as an order for multiple sets of tables and chairs with customized dimensions, writes Mark Bartlett, chief experience officer at FPX.

Buyers who rely on paper-based payments often struggle to onboard new suppliers. This "process overhead" can be so cumbersome that many buyers become resistant to change, opting instead to limit their supplier choices to a small number of partners, writes Patrick Bermingham, the CEO of Adlex.

Both executives assume their new roles as the Citi unit faces competition from both large banks and fintechs in the cross-border payments market.

Regulatory initiatives have erupted across the globe that call for the implementation of immediate payment systems, writes John Mitchell, CEO of EpisodeSix.

Flywire has partnered with Billtrust, which specializes in B2B payments, to improve processing of cross-border payments.