WEX\u00a0corporate card customers can now generate and settle vendor payments with virtual cards within\u00a0SAP\u2019s\u00a0Concur Invoice platform.
The post Extend Embeds WEX B2B Payments\u00a0Into\u00a0SAP Concur Invoice appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "WEX\u00a0corporate card customers can now generate and settle vendor payments with virtual cards within\u00a0SAP\u2019s\u00a0Concur Invoice platform.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThis capability is enabled by a new collaboration between WEX, which is a provider of intelligent payment solutions, and\u00a0Extend, an embedded virtual card payments company that is an established\u00a0SAP Concur\u00a0partner, the companies said in a Thursday (April 30)\u00a0press release.\nWEX corporate card customers can initiate these vendor payments by connecting their WEX commercial account in Concur Invoice, according to the release.\nThen, when an invoice is received, Concur Invoice automatically generates a virtual card linked to the customer\u2019s registered WEX commercial account and authorizes,\u00a0remits\u00a0and reconciles the payment.\nThis solution enables WEX customers to settle invoices with single-use virtual cards generated from their WEX commercial account, control payment amounts and timing, pay suppliers faster, automate reconciliation, gain complete visibility into payment delivery, and earn available card rebates on vendor transactions.\n\u201cBy partnering with Extend to embed virtual card payments inside Concur Invoice, we are delivering infrastructure that offers granular control over every transaction, all without disrupting how they already operate,\u201d\u00a0Carlos Carriedo, chief operating officer, Americas Payments & Mobility at WEX, said in the release.\nThe collaboration demonstrates Extend\u2019s ability to help corporate payments providers and financial institutions deliver embedded payment capabilities inside the platforms their customers rely on, without replacing\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0already working, per the release.\n\u201cAs customer expectations rapidly evolve, so does the race to deliver more connected payment workflows \u2014 Extend is excited to be the partner that makes it possible,\u201d Extend CEO and Co-founder\u00a0Andrew Jamison\u00a0said in the release.\nThe PYMNTS Intelligence report \u201cFinTechs Tap Embedded Payments to Deepen Customer Relationships\u201d found that among the firms that have adopted embedded payments, 87% cite better customer experiences as a key benefit, while 60% cite greater consumer trust and 53% cite improved operational efficiency.\nAnother PYMNTS Intelligence report, \u201cEmbedding Security: Designing Fraud Risk Out of Business Transactions,\u201d found that 74% of\u00a0embedded finance\u00a0users say the technology has significantly reduced their fraud risk, suggesting that well-designed embedded payment systems can outperform traditional standalone fraud monitoring tools.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Extend Embeds WEX B2B Payments\u00a0Into\u00a0SAP Concur Invoice appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-30T12:35:49-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-30T20:59:07-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/WEX.jpg", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B Payments", "commercial payments", "News", "PYMNTS News", "SAP", "WEX", "What's Hot", "What's Hot In B2B" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3692567", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/mastercard-and-wells-fargo-target-the-friction-slowing-b2b-cards/", "title": "Mastercard and Wells Fargo Target the Friction Slowing B2B Cards", "content_html": "For decades, B2B payments have been treated as back\u2011office plumbing\u2014necessary, unglamorous and largely unchanged. Invoices pile up, checks linger and reconciliation remains stubbornly manual. The result isn\u2019t just inefficiency; it\u2019s an experience that quietly drags on both buyers and suppliers, with little upside for anyone.
The post Mastercard and Wells Fargo Target the Friction Slowing B2B Cards appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "For decades, B2B payments have been treated as back\u2011office plumbing\u2014necessary, unglamorous and largely unchanged. Invoices pile up, checks linger and reconciliation remains stubbornly manual. The result isn\u2019t just inefficiency; it\u2019s an experience that quietly drags on both buyers and suppliers, with little upside for anyone.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nWhat\u2019s changing isn\u2019t simply the technology used to move money\u2014it\u2019s who is shaping the experience and setting the rules. Beneath B2B payments\u2019 long\u2011standing inertia, a structural shift is underway that is redefining control, acceptance and value across the transaction lifecycle.\nTo explore that shift, PYMNTS sat down recently with Mastercard Senior Vice President of Commercial Acceptance Nick White and Wells Fargo Head of Commercial and Corporate Banking Merchant Services Paul Uher.\n\u201cTwo-thirds of B2B suppliers report that they\u2019re not meeting their buyers\u2019 expectations for their payment experience,\u201d said White, noting that the total addressable opportunity in B2B payments is around $80 trillion.\nThe significance of that opportunity is not simply its size. It is that the benefits across the market appear to be aligning. Buyers want greater control, security and working-capital flexibility. Suppliers want faster payment, lower administrative burden and fewer late receivables.\nTurning to cards as a B2B payment mechanism can increasingly offer them those advantages.\n\u201cNearly half of [suppliers] are saying that they expect to be asked to take card for a B2B payment,\u201d White said.\nThe evolving role of cards reflects a broader realization across the B2B payments industry: scaling card acceptance in commercial payments is less about technology alone and more about solving entrenched operational friction.\nIt\u2019s against that backdrop that acquirers are emerging as crucial strategic orchestrators of B2B payment ecosystems.\nFrom Closing the Acceptance Gap to Enabling Seamless Coordination\nVirtual cards are often positioned as a silver bullet for B2B payments, but their real value lies in how they reconcile competing priorities. For buyers, they offer granular control over spending, improved cash flow management and potential rebates. For suppliers, they provide faster payments, reduced credit risk and streamlined processes.\nThe result is a fundamental shift in B2B acceptance, where the focus moves beyond a persuasion process and toward a broader question of enablement: who can make it easier for enterprise buyers and suppliers to transact at scale with less friction, better data, faster reconciliation and more flexible payment choice.\n\u201cThe suppliers are a lot more in the driver\u2019s seat now for these discussions, as it relates to the operational challenges they\u2019re facing,\u201d Uher said.\nOne key area of opportunity, he added, is optimizing how virtual cards are integrated into existing workflows\u2014ensuring payments and remittance data flow seamlessly, minimizing manual touchpoints and accelerating reconciliation.\n\u201cThe last thing they need is human beings involved,\u201d White said, explaining that virtual\u2011card\u2011enabled payments remove manual touchpoints from invoice processing, enabling suppliers to operate at scale with faster settlement, cleaner data and more reliable reconciliation.\n\u201cWith straight-through processing and reconciliation, we can take the payment instruction, settle the payment and move the reconciliation information with no human intervention,\u201d he added.\nThat is why ecosystem connectivity is emerging as a defining theme across B2B. The opportunity is no longer just to sign up more suppliers. It is to connect the right counterparties, route the right transactions through the right rails, move both money and information together and do so in a way that does not create new manual burdens.\nThe Acquirer\u2019s Strategic Role in B2B\u2019s Upgrade \nIf supplier operations are now the battleground, the acquirer\u2019s role necessarily changes. In consumer commerce, card acceptance is table stakes. In B2B, it is still consultative. Acquirers have to do more than enable transaction processing and coordinate a complex commercial system that includes issuers, networks, suppliers, buyers, treasury functions, ERP environments and, increasingly, AI-driven decision engines.\n\u201cYou need the acquirers. The acquirers have to be in place and have the capabilities in place,\u201d Uher said.\nThese capabilities are not glamorous, but they are foundational: sales teams that understand the nuances of B2B acceptance, ERP file integration, automated posting, invoice presentment, straight-through processing and the ability to route payments intelligently across different rails. Without those basics, the promise of card-based B2B payments may remain trapped in pilot mode.\nBoth Uher and White emphasized that suppliers are not monolithic organizations with a single decision-maker. Treasury may focus on working capital, while finance operations may care about reconciliation and labor cost. Providers now need a multithreaded sales motion that can speak to each constituency inside the supplier.\n\u201cIt is no longer enough just to talk to the person who\u2019s signing off the bill for a payment and acceptance,\u201d White said.\nAI Moves From Hype to Real-World Value\nNo contemporary payments discussion avoids artificial intelligence (AI), and both White and Uher positioned the technology as a practical tool for reducing friction across the supplier lifecycle\u2014applying intelligence to areas where it can drive real operational impact.\nFor White, AI\u2019s first major use case was intelligence: identifying which suppliers are likely to accept cards, shaping more relevant sales narratives, and helping automate outreach, onboarding and optimization at scale.\n\u201cThe opportunities [are] endless,\u201d he said, though always in service of a simple goal: \u201cto solve problems, to automate, to scale.\u201d\nUher noted that AI\u2019s biggest immediate leverage may lie upstream, in decision-making rather than payment execution. He pointed to its potential to help suppliers determine \u201cwhere to route transactions,\u201d deciding when card makes sense versus ACH, wire, or another payment type.\nUltimately, if the two payments executives came to a shared conclusion, it was that the market has moved beyond the question of whether B2B card acceptance matters. The question now is who can operationalize it.\nWhite called the current moment \u201can inflection point,\u201d citing stronger buyer demand, greater supplier openness and a growing recognition among acquirers that B2B acceptance can deepen merchant relationships while creating new growth.\nUher\u2019s advice to suppliers was pointed in the same direction: engage your current provider, understand what capabilities you are not yet using and plan for the technology and workflow changes needed to make acceptance easier.\nFor all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Mastercard and Wells Fargo Target the Friction Slowing B2B Cards appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-30T04:02:34-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-29T22:39:16-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Swipe-SB2-x-with-NEW-overlay.png", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B Payments", "commercial payments", "Featured News", "Mastercard", "News", "PYMNTS News", "wells fargo" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3692952", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/boost-says-b2b-payments-need-answers-not-more-data/", "title": "Boost Says B2B Payments Need Answers, Not More Data", "content_html": "Watch more: What\u2019s Next in Payments With Boost Payment Solutions\u2019 Rinku Sharma
The post Boost Says B2B Payments Need Answers, Not More Data appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Watch more: What\u2019s Next in Payments With Boost Payment Solutions\u2019 Rinku Sharma\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe gap between collecting data and extracting advantage from it has become one of the defining competitive fault lines in modern business.\n\u201cMost companies are sitting on an enormous amount of data today, and they\u2019re doing very little with it,\u201d Rinku Sharma, chief technology officer at\u00a0Boost Payment Solutions, told PYMNTS during a discussion for the April edition of the \u201cWhat\u2019s Next in Payments\u201d series, \u201cThe Data Game.\u201d\n\u201cThe moat is not having more data. The moat is about having the right data, knowing what questions you want to ask of that data, and building the infrastructure to act on those answers at speed,\u201d Sharma said.\nNowhere is this shift more visible than in B2B payments, a sector historically defined by fragmentation, manual processes and limited visibility. But by connecting data across products, networks and workflows, firms that can harness the ecosystem\u2019s latent intelligence are finding themselves able to provide a coherent view of financial activity that informs strategy as much as execution.\n\u201cThe companies that are winning today are not the ones who have waited for everything to be perfect, but the ones who have started building with what they have and iterated relentlessly,\u201d Sharma said.\nBoost\u2019s own ambition, he added, is to unlock the ability of data to answer higher-order questions for clients, such as where working capital risks are emerging, how supplier networks behave and where performance can be optimized.\nFrom Data Exhaust to Intelligence Layer\nIn consumer payments, innovation is often measured in visible touchpoints: checkout speed, interface design or approval rates. B2B payments operate differently. The \u201cexperience\u201d is embedded deep within enterprise systems such as ERP platforms, accounts payable workflows, treasury infrastructure and more, making it both less visible and historically slower to evolve.\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing now is building the analytical layer that turns these signals into intelligence,\u201d Sharma said. The goal is not retrospective reporting, but operational impact, \u201cfaster decisions, smarter interchange optimization, and better outcomes for our buyers and suppliers.\u201d\nBecause as industries digitize, competitive advantage is being shifted away from ownership of infrastructure toward ownership of insight.\nOperating at the intersection of buyers, suppliers and card networks, Boost processes commercial card transactions across thousands of relationships in more than 180 countries. That vantage point yields a dataset no single participant could assemble independently, but raw visibility is only the starting point.\n\u201cIt\u2019s not magic,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cIt\u2019s a result of data that is extracted from payments and about the supplier\u2019s systems being understood and acted upon automatically.\u201d\nThe impact can be tangible. Suppliers joining a modern payments network, Sharma said, increasingly receive funds automatically, accompanied by clean, structured remittance data in their preferred formats.\nThe elimination of manual reconciliation is not the result of a single feature, but of coordinated intelligence across systems capable of understanding supplier preferences, buyer workflows and transaction context simultaneously.\nAI Collapses Distance Between Signal and Action\nData intelligence\u2019s impact across B2B is also getting a concurrent boost from artificial intelligence, which is compressing the time, cost and complexity required to extract value from data.\nSharma framed AI\u2019s impact along three dimensions: speed, cost and quality, and argued that its real power lies in how those forces compound.\n\u201cTransaction decisions that were happening historically in manual review queues or overnight batch jobs are now happening in milliseconds,\u201d he said, noting that for large-scale B2B payments, that means parsing unstructured data, optimizing interchange and delivering enriched remittance information instantaneously.\nThe reason this is now possible is that cost dynamics have shifted just as dramatically. What previously required \u201can entire team of data scientists running and building ML [machine learning] models at scale\u201d \u2014 along with significant compute investment \u2014 can now be deployed \u201cin days and weeks without that huge upfront investment,\u201d Sharma said.\nBut it is in quality where AI introduces the most profound change. Traditional systems have relied on predefined rules, inherently limited by what engineers anticipate. Machine learning, by contrast, surfaces patterns that were never explicitly encoded, enabling detection of anomalies and opportunities that would otherwise remain invisible.\n\u201cIt looks for patterns that it has never been coded for,\u201d Sharma said.\nThe result is not simply better automation, but a fundamental expansion of what organizations can perceive and therefore act upon. By analyzing cash flow patterns, payment velocity and network relationships, companies can make faster, more precise decisions.\n\u201cWhat real-time transaction data is doing is enabling us to have a forward-looking assessment,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cThe question used to be what happened. Now the question is, what should we do about it right now?\u201d\nIn that sense, the future of data-driven advantage may be less about ownership than orchestration. Companies that can unify disparate signals, interpret them in real time and act with clarity may define the next generation of competitive moats.\nFor Boost, that means evolving beyond payments infrastructure into what Sharma described as \u201cthe intelligence layer in B2B commercial payments.\u201d\n\u201cWhen a supplier asks why a transaction was routed in a certain way, they deserve an answer,\u201d he said. \u201cThe companies pulling ahead are using AI and payments as a trust-building and growth engine.\u201d\nFor all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Boost Says B2B Payments Need Answers, Not More Data appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-30T04:01:52-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-29T22:18:08-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Boost-B2B-payments-data-1-with-overlay.jpg", "tags": [ "AI", "B2B", "B2B Payments", "Boost Payment Solutions", "data", "data analysis", "Featured News", "News", "PYMNTS News", "pymnts tv", "video", "WhatsNextInPaymentsSeries", "What\u2019s Next in Payments: The Data Game 2026" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3692254", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/ramp-launches-ai-agents-to-automate-corporate-procurement/", "title": "Ramp Launches AI Agents to Automate Corporate Procurement", "content_html": "Ramp has added a fleet of artificial intelligence (AI) agents to its procurement platform.
The post Ramp Launches AI Agents to Automate Corporate Procurement appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Ramp has added a fleet of artificial intelligence (AI) agents to its procurement platform.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe new agents can triage employee requests, source vendors, review contract terms and handle compliance checks, the company said in a Wednesday (April 29) press release.\nBecause the platform runs on anonymized pricing benchmarks and vendor data from millions of Ramp transactions, it can provide smaller companies with the sort of benchmark data that might be used by Fortune 500 firms, according to the release.\nThe company\u2019s new AI agents reinforce this effort with their abilities to spot compliance risks and identify savings opportunities, per the release.\nThe need for these sorts of capabilities has risen with the growing adoption of AI by businesses, because AI contracts are increasingly expensive and feature new kinds of pricing models, the release said.\n\u201cThe tools companies use to buy haven\u2019t kept pace with the speed or sophistication of what they\u2019re buying,\u201d Ramp Chief Product Officer Geoff Charles said in the release. \u201cWe built a purchasing platform where AI agents do the work. Finance teams can hire Ramp as an extension of their team to run purchasing end-to-end.\u201d\nRamp Procurement customers, on average, reduce their vendor costs by 16% annually and cut the amount of time spent on manual purchasing work by 46 hours per month, per the release.\nThe PYMNTS Intelligence report \u201cThe Investment Impact of GenAI Operating Standards on Enterprise Adoption\u201d found that among U.S. firms generating at least $1 billion in annual revenue, 25% are actively using generative AI in their procure-to-pay cycle and another 48% are considering doing so.\nRamp released its first set of AI agents, Agents for Controllers, in July 2025 and its second, Agents for AP, in October 2025.\nIn March, Ramp and Visa announced that they were introducing AI agents that automate corporate bill pay, reduce manual work, curb spend and unlock savings. The companies said these agents would provide Ramp customers with greater payment flexibility and more control over corporate spend.\nRamp said at the time that its enterprise customer base grew 133% year over year in 2025 as companies seek a replacement for old infrastructure burdened by manual controls and disconnected systems.\nFor all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily\u00a0B2B Newsletter.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Ramp Launches AI Agents to Automate Corporate Procurement appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-29T13:11:25-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-29T13:11:25-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Ramp.png", "tags": [ "AI", "B2B", "B2B Payments", "News", "PMNTS news", "procurement", "Ramp", "What's Hot", "What's Hot In B2B" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3674572", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/b2bs-new-battlefield-is-everything-before-the-button/", "title": "B2B\u2019s New Battlefield Is Everything Before the Button", "content_html": "When U.S. importers logged into the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol\u2019s\u00a0(CBP) new tariff refund portal this week, the interface looked, at first glance, refreshingly modern.
The post B2B’s New Battlefield Is Everything Before the Button appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "When U.S. importers logged into the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol\u2019s\u00a0(CBP) new tariff refund portal this week, the interface looked, at first glance, refreshingly modern.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe portal is built to process up to $127 billion in tariff refunds the U.S. owes businesses, offering structured fields, standardized uploads and a streamlined process designed to replace years of opaque, paper-heavy compliance.\nCBP said importers and authorized customs brokers can now use their Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal (ACE Portal) accounts to file Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) Declarations for International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) refunds.\nBut for the more than 330,000 importers that paid tariffs, the challenge was never the login. It was being ready for what the portal would ask of them.\nThe firms that moved fastest were not necessarily those with the largest refunds at stake, but those that had already done the invisible work of structuring their data, aligning internal processes and maintaining operational records in a structure and richness that could meet the portal\u2019s requirements.\nThe lesson here is not about tariffs. It is about how modern B2B systems operate. Whether the touchpoint is a government portal, a marketplace, or a payment system, it functions as the final checkpoint in a much larger operational pipeline.\nWhat determines success across that pipeline is everything that happens before anyone ever clicks \u201csubmit.\u201d\nSee also: It\u2019s Level 3 or Bust as Visa\u2019s Interchange Shift Rewires B2B Data\u00a0\nData Readiness as Compliance Function\nIn practice, the CBP\u2019s tariff refund portal functions as a validation engine, enforcing strict requirements on data accuracy, formatting and completeness. It assumes that the submitting organization has already reconciled its internal records to a high degree of precision.\nIn that sense, it resembles a growing class of B2B interfaces that serve as gateways rather than workspaces. They do not help organizations create order; they require that order already exist.\nOne of the clearest takeaways from the portal rollout is the cost of fragmented systems. Many companies operate with a patchwork of tools \u2014 ERP systems for finance, specialized platforms for logistics, custom databases for product information. Each system evolves independently, optimized for local efficiency rather than global coherence.\nThat fragmentation can become a liability when a unified view is required. In the context of tariff refunds, this meant reconciling shipment data with tariff classifications, payment records and historical filings. Discrepancies that had been tolerable in day-to-day operations could suddenly became blockers.\nThese problems and hurdles are not merely technical; they are also organizational. Data fragmentation often mirrors organizational silos, where different teams operate with their own systems, priorities and definitions.\nPYMNTS Intelligence\u00a0found in December, for example, that 66% of\u00a0accounts payable\u00a0teams saw an increase in manual workload over the prior year.\nIn this environment, the competitive advantage shifts decisively away from the interface and toward preparation. Companies that succeed are not those that navigate the portal most efficiently, but those that arrive at it with the cleanest, most coherent datasets and the clearest internal alignment.\nThis reframes what \u201cenablement\u201d means. It is no longer sufficient to provide users with access and instructions. True enablement lies in equipping them to meet the system\u2019s implicit demands: data integrity, cross-functional coordination and anticipatory compliance.\nNew data in the \u201c2025\u20132026 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index:\u00a0North America Edition,\u201d a collaboration between\u00a0PYMNTS Intelligence\u00a0and\u00a0Visa, reveals a widening performance gap between firms that have modernized their receivables and working capital infrastructure and those that continue to rely on manual, legacy processes.\nSee also:\u00a0Cross-Border Payments Hit a New Bottleneck at the Data Border\nWorkflow Tooling as Infrastructure\nWalmart,\u00a0Target\u00a0and\u00a0Nike are reportedly expecting some of the biggest refunds, owed $10.2 billion, $2.2 billion and $1 billion, respectively. FedEx\u00a0and\u00a0DHL\u00a0have started filing claims, while\u00a0UPS has said it will work to request and retrieve refunds from the government on customers\u2019 behalf for shipments where UPS was the company of record.\nBy the time 2025 was winding down, 47% of goods product leaders surveyed by PYMNTS said tariffs were\u00a0mostly or completely negative\u00a0for their company finances, while 88% were still anticipating supply chain disruptions. At the same time, around two-thirds of goods firms and 80% of services firms said tariffs could eventually bolster supply chain resilience.\nAnd if the CBP refund portal is the last mile, it also shows how competitive advantage is shifting upstream. The organizations that succeed are those that invest in what might be called pre-submission intelligence \u2014 the ability to understand, structure and validate their data before it encounters an external system.\nThis can require greater visibility across workflows, the ability to trace how information moves through an organization, and mechanisms for identifying inconsistencies early. It may also require a cultural shift, where data is treated not as a byproduct of operations but as a strategic asset.\nData readiness and ensuring that information is accurate, structured, and accessible at all times has effectively become a new compliance function. Every transaction, every update, every classification decision contributes to a dataset that may eventually be tested against an external system. By the time that test occurs, it is too late to fix foundational issues without significant cost.\nAfter all, in a world where clicking \u201cpay\u201d is the easy part, the real work and the real differentiation increasingly now lies in everything else that comes before.\n\r\n\r\nThe post B2B’s New Battlefield Is Everything Before the Button appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-22T18:27:57-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-22T18:28:44-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/B2B-data-1.jpg", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B data", "B2B Payments", "data", "data analysis", "News", "PYMNTS News", "tariffs" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3670222", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/banks-risk-slowing-the-emerging-middle-market-firms-driving-growth/", "title": "Banks Risk Slowing the Emerging Middle Market Firms Driving Growth", "content_html": "Emerging mid-market growth is getting brake-checked, but not just by internal systems. Increasingly, it\u2019s the financial infrastructure and product offerings supporting them.
The post Banks Risk Slowing the Emerging Middle Market Firms Driving Growth appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Emerging mid-market growth is getting brake-checked, but not just by internal systems. Increasingly, it\u2019s the financial infrastructure and product offerings supporting them.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nFindings in a new report,\u00a0\u201cThe Emerging Middle Market: When Operational Complexity Grows Faster Than Financial Infrastructure,\u201d a collaboration between\u00a0PYMNTS Intelligence\u00a0and\u00a0i2c, show that 46% of high-growth mid-market firms surveyed report frequently missing opportunities because available credit is too slow, too rigid or simply misaligned with their needs.\nBusinesses generating between $10 million and $50 million in annual revenue increasingly find themselves stranded between two worlds. They have outgrown entry-level banking products, basic accounting tools and single-provider payment stacks. But they remain too small, or too early in their profitability trajectory, to justify enterprise-grade treasury systems or bespoke financial relationships. The financial infrastructure around them hasn\u2019t evolved at the same pace.\nThe result is a widening gap between what these companies need and what financial institutions are equipped to deliver.\nThis reality is forcing even the fastest-growing companies to manage cash on spreadsheets, defer investment and navigate fragmented payment and credit systems.\nThe Fastest-Growing Companies Have the Least Financial Visibility\nOne of the clearest manifestations of this gap is in cash visibility. The report data shows that firms growing at the fastest rates \u2014 those expanding at 20% annually or more \u2014 are also the most likely to experience frequent cash-flow disruptions.\nFor many, these disruptions occur weekly or even daily, at rates several times higher than slower-growing peers. This is not simply a function of size; smaller firms with steady growth profiles often report fewer issues. Instead, liquidity stress correlates directly with the pace of expansion.\nThe reason? The data shows that, even as these businesses expand rapidly, the financial infrastructure supporting them hasn\u2019t kept pace, leaving them without integrated, real-time visibility across payments, accounting and liquidity.\nIn effect, the very firms driving economic momentum are doing so with the least financial control, not because they lack sophistication, but because the systems around them haven\u2019t evolved to match their speed.\nAnd if visibility is one side of the problem, credit is the other. On paper, most emerging middle-market firms report adequate or even more-than-sufficient access to credit. But this headline metric obscures a deeper disconnect.\nThe Problem in Credit Deployment\nAmong the fastest-growing firms, nearly half say they frequently miss opportunities due to insufficient financing \u2014 not because credit isn\u2019t available, but because the products offered are too slow, too rigid or too disconnected from real-time business needs.\nFor companies scaling rapidly, traditional underwriting metrics often fail to capture future potential or current demand. As a result, credit facilities tend to be too slow to approve, too rigid to adjust and too limited to support real-time decision-making.\nRead the report: The Emerging Middle Market: When Operational Complexity Grows Faster Than Financial Infrastructure\nBut if the scale of the gap is significant, so too is the opportunity for financial institutions willing to evolve their infrastructure and product offerings. As more companies enter the emerging middle market, demand is shifting toward integrated, real-time financial infrastructure that aligns more closely with how these businesses operate.\nFor example, systems that link payment data with accounting records and credit availability can allow a company to instantly assess its capacity to take on a new project or expand inventory. At the same time, automated reconciliation can reduce the labor hours spent on manual processes, freeing finance teams to focus on analysis and planning. Simultaneously, dynamic credit solutions informed by real-time data can provide more flexible and responsive funding options.\nAfter all, if the problem is fragmentation and latency, the solution is integration and immediacy. The next generation of financial infrastructure must provide a unified view of payments, accounting and liquidity, one that is updated in real time and accessible across the organization.\nFor financial institutions, the implication is clear:\n\nClient growth is accelerating \u2014 but financial infrastructure and product offerings are not keeping pace.\nClosing that gap is not just a technology challenge \u2014 it\u2019s a strategic opportunity to better serve one of the fastest-growing and most underserved segments in the market.\n\nFor the companies themselves, the stakes are high. In a competitive landscape where speed and agility are paramount, the ability to see, decide and act in real time may be the difference between leading the market and watching opportunities pass by.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Banks Risk Slowing the Emerging Middle Market Firms Driving Growth appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-22T04:00:51-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-21T22:39:55-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Banks-risk-SB4-x.jpg", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B Payments", "cash flow", "credit", "Featured News", "i2C", "middle-market firms", "News", "PYMNTS Intelligence", "PYMNTS News" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3670384", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/its-level-3-or-bust-as-visas-interchange-shift-rewires-b2b-data/", "title": "It\u2019s Level 3 or Bust as Visa\u2019s Interchange Shift Rewires B2B Data", "content_html": "B2B payments are becoming a data-rich world. That\u2019s creating new challenges for data-poor businesses.
The post It\u2019s Level 3 or Bust as Visa\u2019s Interchange Shift Rewires B2B Data appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "B2B payments are becoming a data-rich world. That\u2019s creating new challenges for data-poor businesses.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nAs of Saturday (April 18), Visa\u2019s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) officially phased out its Level 2 interchange program, replacing the legacy incentive structures with a new interchange system that rewards one thing above all: high-quality, verifiable Level 3 data.\nWhat was once an optional optimization for B2B card payments is now the primary pathway to cost efficiency. For CFOs and operators, the implications may be as immediate as the Level 2 sunset, and their consequences are not merely technical ones.\nTransactions that previously qualified for discounted rates under Level 2 will now fall into higher-cost categories unless they meet stricter Level 3 standards. There is no longer a low-effort path to optimization. Transactions either meet the bar for verified, high-quality data, or they don\u2019t. That distinction carries real financial weight.\nIn the end, the shift is less about payments than about preparedness. The companies that succeed will be those that recognize the moment not as a disruption to be managed, but as a catalyst for transformation.\nRead more: Why Messy Merchant Data Could Make B2B Payments More Expensive\u00a0\nA Structural Reset in Interchange Economics\u00a0\nIn a world where data drives value, the ability to capture, manage and leverage detailed transaction information becomes a defining capability.\nCEDP does not simply require more data; it demands better data. Visa now validates transactions for completeness and accuracy, assigning merchants a \u201cverified\u201d or \u201cnon-verified\u201d status that directly determines interchange rates.\nLevel 3 data has long been associated with large-ticket or specialized transactions, requiring detailed line-item information such as product descriptions, quantities, unit costs and freight charges. What has changed is its centrality. With Level 2 removed, Level 3\u2014or more precisely, CEDP-validated Level 3\u2014is now the only scalable way to achieve interchange savings in B2B card payments.\nLegacy payment architectures are rarely designed for this level of precision. Data often originates in disconnected systems spanning enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, invoicing tools, procurement workflows and more, and must be stitched together before a transaction is processed. Each handoff introduces risk: missing fields, inconsistent formatting or incomplete records that can invalidate an otherwise eligible transaction.\nZach Lynn,\u00a0head\u00a0of\u00a0customer data\u00a0and\u00a0insights\u00a0at\u00a0Boost Payment Solutions, wrote in the PYMNTS eBook \u201cHeadlines That Will Shape the Close of 2025\u201d that\u00a0data exchange has become non-negotiable in the payments industry.\n\u201cIn today\u2019s environment, seamless, secure data flows between buyers, suppliers and financial institutions are essential,\u201d Lynn wrote. \u201cWhether it is enabling real-time reconciliation or supporting advanced analytics, the ability to move and leverage data is now table stakes for any organization serious about optimizing working capital.\u201d\nBecause Visa now evaluates data quality transaction by transaction, small errors can cascade into higher costs. Inaccurate data doesn\u2019t just fail quietly; it actively erodes margin.\nThe result is a shift in priorities. Finance teams that once focused on negotiating processor rates must now invest in data governance, system integration and automation. Payment optimization becomes as much a technology problem as a financial one.\nSee also: The Riskiest Words in B2B: This Is How We\u2019ve Always Done It\u00a0\nFrom Cost Center to Strategic Lever\nOne of the less discussed implications of the Level 2 sunset is its effect on financial planning. Interchange has always been a variable cost, but it was also relatively predictable. Finance teams could model expenses based on historical qualification rates, assuming a stable mix of Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 transactions. That assumption no longer holds.\nUnder CEDP, interchange becomes more dynamic. Rates fluctuate based on data quality, verification status and ongoing compliance. Transactions can be downgraded retroactively if data fails validation.\nThis introduces a new layer of volatility into forecasting. CFOs must now model not just transaction volume, but data performance\u2014estimating how much of their payment flow will qualify for verified status versus standard rates.\nFor businesses that rise to the challenge, the rewards are tangible: lower costs, greater efficiency and a more scalable operating model. For those that do not, the consequences will be equally clear, reflected in higher fees and missed opportunities.\nLooking ahead, if firms persist without the systems and processes to support high-quality data, they may face persistently higher costs and reduced flexibility particularly as concurrent innovations like artificial intelligence scale across the B2B space.\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t have well understood, well managed, well governed data, it\u2019s going to be really hard to use AI,\u201d Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, senior vice president and global head of issuing solutions at\u00a0Visa,\u00a0told PYMNTS this week.\n\u201cI would put my whole life savings on the modernization of infrastructure,\u201d Pierce-Gilmore added.\n\r\n\r\nThe post It\u2019s Level 3 or Bust as Visa\u2019s Interchange Shift Rewires B2B Data appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-21T12:54:30-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-21T12:54:30-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/b2b-payments-data-Visa.jpeg", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B Payments", "commercial payments", "Digital Payments", "News", "payments data", "PYMNTS News", "Visa" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3668248", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/agentic-b2b-is-here-are-your-contracts-and-invoices-ready/", "title": "Agentic B2B Is Here. Are Your Contracts and Invoices Ready?", "content_html": "Will the \u201cA\u201d in AR (accounts receivable) and AP (accounts payable) ever stand for \u201cAgentic?\u201d
The post Agentic B2B Is Here. Are Your Contracts and Invoices Ready? appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Will the \u201cA\u201d in AR (accounts receivable) and AP (accounts payable) ever stand for \u201cAgentic?\u201d\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe future may not be as far off as some CFOs believe. On Friday (April 17), for example, billing and revenue automation platform\u00a0Zenskar raised $15 million in new funding to expand its agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.\nAs AI agents become more capable, the organizations that can feed them high-quality, structured data could be better positioned to gain a decisive advantage over those that cling to document-centric and human-optimized processes.\nThe problem is that most B2B contracts and AP/AR workflows were never designed for an agentic reality. These fundamental operational artifacts are frequently dense, ambiguous and optimized for human judgment rather than machine execution.\nIn contrast, an AI-native organization would treat traditional contracts and invoices as structured data from the outset. Every clause, payment term and obligation becomes a discrete, machine-readable element. Instead of parsing text after the fact, systems can directly ingest, interpret and act on the data in real time.\nA contract written for humans requires interpretation. A contract structured for machines enables execution. In this emerging landscape, B2B contracts and invoices are no longer just legal documents but operational instructions that data management best practices make interpretable by machines.\nSee also: What Agentic Commerce Can Learn From B2B Payments\nDoes AI Spell the End of Human-Only B2B Contracts?\nWith contracts and invoices becoming machine-readable, the possibilities of fully autonomous financial workflows can come into focus for CFOs. AI agents can negotiate terms within predefined parameters, execute transactions based on real-time conditions and enforce agreements without human intervention.\nFor CFOs, this represents an opportunity to reduce cycle times, improve cash flow visibility and minimize disputes. But it also requires a willingness to rethink long-standing processes and invest in data infrastructure.\nIf contracts are to be executed by AI agents, they must be designed with machine readability in mind. Key elements such as pricing models, payment schedules, service-level agreements and termination conditions should be explicitly defined in standardized formats. Ambiguity, while sometimes useful in human negotiations, becomes a liability when machines are tasked with execution.\nInvoices are undergoing a similar transformation. In an AI-driven environment, invoices become real-time signals within a continuous financial workflow. They are generated, validated and reconciled automatically, with discrepancies flagged and resolved by agents before they escalate.\nTo enable this, invoices must be standardized and structured from the point of creation. This includes consistent data fields, clear linkage to underlying contracts, and integration with procurement and payment systems.\nFindings from PYMNTS Intelligence\u2019s November edition of the\u00a0Payments Optimization Tracker\u00ae Series\u00a0revealed that as agentic AI systems mature, descriptions optimized for human persuasion, like rich imagery, narrative copy and lifestyle framing, must be complemented by precise, unambiguous metadata, like specifications, dimensions, compatibility, warranties, return policies and availability in consistent formats.\nSee also: Agentic AI Puts a Face on Corporate Treasury\u2019s Next Leap\nHow CFOs Can Structure Their Organizational Data for the AI Era\nThe transition to agent-ready contracts and invoices is not a single project; it is a foundational shift in how organizations think about data. It requires investment in systems, alignment across functions and a willingness to challenge entrenched practices.\nResearch from PYMNTS Intelligence has shown that\u00a083% of companies\u00a0have yet to fully automate their accounts receivable operations, with data fragmentation a key limitation.\nFor CFOs, the starting point is often an audit of existing processes and data structures. Where are the inconsistencies? Which documents are most critical to operations? How easily can key terms be extracted and acted upon?\nBilltrust\u00a0Chief Product Officer\u00a0Lee An Schommer\u00a0said in a recent PYMNTS\u00a0interview that companies manage an average of three enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, leading to data silos that make it tough to get a unified view of customer behavior, payment history and dispute patterns.\nAt the same time, the introduction of AI agents into contractual and financial workflows is likely to raise important questions about accountability. If an agent negotiates a term or triggers a payment, who is responsible for the outcome?\nOrganizations must also look to remain vigilant about the risks associated with automation. Bias in training data, errors in logic and unforeseen edge cases can all have material consequences. Robust oversight mechanisms are essential to mitigate these risks.\nBut while it can be tempting to view the agentic transformation as a matter of adopting new tools or platforms, in reality, it is a competitive reset. In a world where machines are becoming active participants in commerce, the structure of contracts and invoices may determine which firms are able to move faster, operate more efficiently and respond more effectively to changing conditions.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Agentic B2B Is Here. Are Your Contracts and Invoices Ready? appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-20T19:55:42-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-20T19:55:42-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/invoice-b2b-payments-agentic-commerce.jpeg", "tags": [ "AI", "AI Agents", "B2B", "B2B Payments", "commercial payments", "digital transformation", "News", "PYMNTS News" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3662902", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/the-riskiest-words-in-b2b-this-is-how-weve-always-done-it/", "title": "The Riskiest Words in B2B: This Is How We\u2019ve Always Done It", "content_html": "Few phrases in corporate history have proven as durable as \u201cno one ever got fired for buying IBM.\u201d It is shorthand for something deeper: when stakes are high decision-makers often choose what protects their own position over what maximizes institutional value.
The post The Riskiest Words in B2B: This Is How We\u2019ve Always Done It appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Few phrases in corporate history have proven as durable as \u201cno one ever got fired for buying IBM.\u201d It is shorthand for something deeper: when stakes are high decision-makers often choose what protects their own position over what maximizes institutional value.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThat calculus has not disappeared. It has migrated. Today\u2019s buyers may not be defaulting to a single blue-chip vendor, but they still gravitate toward incumbents, familiar workflows and systems already embedded in organizational muscle memory.\nNowhere is that instinct more visible than in B2B payments. Physical checks remain stubbornly present \u2014 and for understandable reasons. They offer visibility, control and auditability. They map to established approval hierarchies, satisfy compliance workflows and distribute accountability across accounts payable, finance and management, diffusing the risk any single decision-maker must absorb.\nDigital B2B payment alternatives, by contrast, can require organizations to trust new mechanisms and, in some cases, relinquish familiar safeguards.\nChange is scary. But the \u201csafe\u201d dynamics of traditional payment methods are increasingly being tested by a new operational reality in which financial experiences are central to growth.\nAs automated payments, embedded finance solutions and dynamic credit systems scale across the marketplace, the old maxim may be due for a replacement: No one ever lost business by making it easier for their customers to pay.\nSee also: How CFOs Are Turning B2B Payments\u00a0Into\u00a0a Strategic Weapon\u00a0\u00a0\nWhy Business Growth Begins Where Money Moves\nFor decades, payments in B2B were treated as an operational afterthought. Invoicing, net terms and reconciliation processes were viewed as back-office concerns, largely disconnected from customer acquisition or retention.\nThe result was a paradox, where companies invested heavily in modernizing customer-facing experiences while maintaining antiquated payment infrastructures that introduced friction for both customers and internal teams alike.\nPYMNTS Intelligence\u00a0found in December, for example, that 66% of\u00a0accounts payable\u00a0teams saw an increase in manual workload over the prior year.\nBut in today\u2019s environment, the payment layer is often the first meaningful interaction a customer has with a vendor\u2019s system of trust. Before a product is fully adopted, before integration is complete, customers must evaluate how they will pay, when they will pay and what risks they assume in doing so. These considerations are no longer trivial, they are becoming gating functions for growth.\n\u201cThe office of the\u00a0CFO\u00a0is broadening its mandate,\u201d\u00a0Boost Payment Solutions\u00a0founder\u00a0and CEO\u00a0Dean M. Leavitt\u00a0told PYMNTS earlier this year, adding that while decisions about how companies pay and\u00a0are paid\u00a0\u201cwere traditionally a secondary issue for most CFOs,\u201d that legacy hierarchy is now changing as finance leaders come to recognize the working capital implications of strategic B2B payment design.\nA company offering frictionless onboarding but rigid payment terms may struggle to convert, while a platform with superior capabilities but opaque billing structures could lose to a competitor with clearer financial workflows. Even subtle factors such as whether credit limits can scale dynamically or whether fraud controls create false positives can now determine whether a deal progresses or stalls.\nRead also:\u00a0CFOs Ditch AI Features to Fix Broken Payment Flows\u00a0\nSwitching Costs and the Psychology of Change\nIf the old IBM adage was about avoiding blame, the emerging paradigm may be about redefining what constitutes a defensible decision. In a world where growth increasingly starts at the payment layer, clinging to outdated systems can be as risky as adopting unproven ones.\nNew data in the \u201c2025\u20132026 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index:\u00a0North America Edition,\u201d a collaboration between\u00a0PYMNTS Intelligence\u00a0and\u00a0Visa, reveals a widening performance gap between firms that have modernized their receivables and working capital infrastructure and those that continue to rely on manual, legacy processes.\nThis shift does not happen overnight. It requires a recalibration of incentives, a willingness to challenge assumptions and a commitment to continuous learning. But as the competitive landscape evolves, the cost of inaction becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.\n\r\n\r\nThe post The Riskiest Words in B2B: This Is How We\u2019ve Always Done It appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-17T16:19:20-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-17T16:19:20-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/B2B-risk-aversion.jpeg", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B Payments", "digital transformation", "News", "PYMNTS News", "risk management" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3653254", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2026/how-cfos-are-turning-b2b-payments-into-a-strategic-weapon/", "title": "How CFOs Are Turning B2B Payments\u00a0Into\u00a0a Strategic Weapon\u00a0", "content_html": "The underlying rails powering corporate payments are improving everywhere. Real-time payment networks have proliferated, card use is scaling as the economics start to make more sense, APIs have standardized access to financial services, and account-to-account (A2A) transfers have even gained traction as a cost-efficient alternative.
The post How CFOs Are Turning B2B Payments\u00a0Into\u00a0a Strategic Weapon\u00a0 appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "The underlying rails powering corporate payments are improving everywhere. Real-time payment networks have proliferated, card use is scaling as the economics start to make more sense, APIs have standardized access to financial services, and account-to-account (A2A) transfers have even gained traction as a cost-efficient alternative.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nAcross major economies, the implications of these payment innovations are reshaping how businesses manage liquidity, reconcile transactions, and expand across borders.\nIn Europe and the U.K., open banking and real-time networks are driving innovation in embedded finance. In Asia, integrated ecosystems and cross-border connectivity are redefining the role of payments within digital platforms. In North America, APIs and data-driven approaches are enabling more sophisticated payment intelligence.\nThese differences reflect the underlying infrastructure and regulatory environments of each market. Many of them have resulted in an unavoidably complex and fragmented B2B payment landscape, one that complicates the day-to-day responsibilities of multinational treasury teams and CFOs.\nYet they also point to a broader convergence around a common theme: corporate payments as a system-level capability rather than a standalone function.\nSee also: Cross-Border Payments Hit a New Bottleneck at the Data Border\u00a0\nFrom Rails to Systems\nAs corporate payment rails mature, differentiation is migrating upward. What matters now is not just how quickly or cheaply money moves, but how intelligently that movement is embedded within business processes. Payments are becoming programmable, contextual, and data-rich, serving as components of broader financial workflows rather than as isolated transactions.\n\u201cThe office of the\u00a0CFO\u00a0is broadening its mandate,\u201d\u00a0Boost Payment Solutions Founder\u00a0and CEO\u00a0Dean M. Leavitt\u00a0told PYMNTS last month, adding that while decisions about how companies pay and\u00a0are paid\u00a0\u201cwere traditionally a secondary issue for most CFOs,\u201d that legacy hierarchy is now changing as finance leaders come to recognize the working capital implications of strategic B2B payment design.\nThis is evident in a growing emphasis across the marketplace on orchestration platforms. These systems allow companies to route payments dynamically across multiple rails, apply business rules in real time, and integrate payments directly into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The result can be a more adaptive payments architecture that aligns with operational needs rather than constraining them.\nFaster Payments in the U.K. and SEPA Instant in Europe have effectively commoditized speed. What differentiates providers now is how they enable businesses to use that speed, and the result is a payments ecosystem where the rails are largely interchangeable, but the systems built on top of them are highly differentiated.\nIn North America, where real-time payment adoption has been more gradual, innovation is being driven by API-based ecosystems and data-centric approaches. The emergence of new real-time networks is important, but the more significant trend is the proliferation of platforms that leverage APIs to integrate payments into enterprise workflows and the growing use of virtual cards.\n\u201cVirtual cards make it very easy to automate end to end,\u201d Rene Stynen, senior vice president, EMEA, B2B Payments at\u00a0Boost Payment Solutions, told PYMNTS in an earlier interview. \u201cThey enable straight-through processing and help build cost-sharing models between buyers and suppliers.\u201d\nThat cost-sharing element is proving to be particularly important in Europe, Stynen added, where suppliers have historically resisted card acceptance due to processing fees.\nRead also: CFOs Ditch AI Features to Fix Broken Payment Flows\u00a0\nRedefining Liquidity, Working Capital\nThe shift from rails to systems is not merely a technological evolution; it is a redefinition of what payments mean within the enterprise. As the underlying infrastructure continues to improve, the real value will be created by those who can orchestrate it most effectively.\nOne of the most significant implications of this transition is the redefinition of liquidity management. In a world where payments are integrated into broader systems, liquidity becomes a dynamic resource that can be optimized in real time.\nBusinesses are increasingly using payment platforms to gain granular visibility into their cash positions, forecast future flows, and make decisions about when to pay or collect.\n\u201cAll our research shows that access to capital and cash flow flexibility are the biggest friction points,\u201d Mark Barnett, global head of small and medium enterprises at\u00a0Mastercard, told PYMNTS this month, noting that true competition is not between payment mechanisms, but between constrained and unconstrained liquidity.\nNearly half of SMBs\u00a0say they would pay for tools that let them adjust payment timing based on when they actually have money.\nFor all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.\n\r\n\r\nThe post How CFOs Are Turning B2B Payments\u00a0Into\u00a0a Strategic Weapon\u00a0 appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-14T18:36:35-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-14T18:36:35-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/B2B-payments-orchestration1.jpg", "tags": [ "B2B", "B2B Payments", "Boost Payments Solutions", "CFO", "embedded finance", "News", "Payments Orchestration", "PYMNTS News" ] } ] }