Payments

Mobile commerce provider Bango has added Softbank Corp. customers to its list of Japanese mobile phone carriers whose customers can now make purchases in their Amazon accounts and charge the cost to their phone bill.

Given American Express was reporting a 95% hit to one of its core businesses less than two months ago, announcing access to the world’s largest digital payments market has to be a major sigh of relief — even if there’s still entrenched competitors, an international virus and a cold war to navigate.

Nobody knows what the next six to 12 months are going to look like. That means AP needs to focus on conserving cash while keeping operations moving, says Nvoicepay's Josh Cyphers and Derek Halpern.

MineralTree has retooled its platform so midsize corporations may process domestic and international invoices through one channel, and the firm has also formed a partnership with TransferMate to improve users' global currency payment options.

Payments processors are keeping a portion of payments as a reserve against potential disputes between cardholders and merchants. Small-business owners say the practice is eating into their profits.

Inaccurate payments have plagued accounts payable and receivable departments from the time suppliers' contracts and invoices were stored in boxes and file drawers to the dawn of data-driven digital transactions.

As innovation proceeds faster than expected, small firms will need to work with larger firms to meet the new demand, sayd DealRockit's David Carmell.

The coronavirus dealt a double blow to procurement, cutting off both goods and money. Banks and e-commerce firms are relying on partnerships to tweak payment tools to rescue the market.

In a sign of the rapid shift to digital transactions, MoneyGram reported that its digital transactions grew by 100% in May, compared to the same time last year.

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic could lead to the ongoing expansion of workers’ access to early, or earned wages (EWA) through advances and instant payouts, including to new types of users.