56% of US Businesses Think Easier Cross-Border Payments Would Improve Cash Management

Payments innovations such as real-time payments, accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) automation and virtual cards can enhance many aspects of businesses’ cross-border payments processes.

The businesses that invest in them often do so with specific operational goals in mind, and these goals tend to vary depending on whether the international business is based in the U.S. or the U.K.

U.S. businesses said they are more likely to see innovations that enhance their cash management capabilities as beneficial, while British businesses said they believe the chief benefit cross-border payments innovation can provide is cost reduction, according to “Innovating Cross-Border Payments,” a PYMNTS and Visa collaboration that drew on a survey of 456 decision-makers from businesses across 22 industries.

Get the report: Innovating Cross-Border Payments

Overall, the three primary benefits that businesses believe cross-border payments innovation can deliver are cost reduction, enhanced cash management and fraud protection.

Seeking Three Primary Benefits

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U.S. businesses are most likely to see innovations that enhance their cash management capabilities and those that help reduce costs as beneficial. Fifty-six percent of U.S. businesses said they see enhanced cash management capabilities as a benefit of cross-border payments innovation, compared to 51% of U.K. businesses.

Sixty-two percent of U.K. businesses said they believe that reducing the cost of cross-border operations is one of the key benefits of innovation, as do 54% of U.S. businesses. Meanwhile, 52% of those in the U.K. and 51% of those in the U.S. said they expect those innovations to reduce fraud.

Optimizing the Potential of Their Businesses

Among the innovations these businesses plan to implement for making payments are push payments, digital wallets, automating payables and enabling business partners to choose how they would like to receive payments.

U.K. and U.S. businesses are eager to improve the speed, efficiency and security of the cross-border payments that have become central to their success, with each business across the board prioritizing innovations that address the unique payments frictions they face.

Smaller businesses and those based in the U.S. are most focused on mitigating the risk of payment fraud, while larger businesses and those headquartered in the U.K. tend to place more value on lowering costs. Still others hope that innovation will make their cross-border payments processes more transparent and efficient.

This diversity not only illustrates the operational shortcomings international U.K. and U.S. businesses are most eager to alleviate, but also underscores how instrumental they believe cross-border payments innovations are to enhancing their businesses and optimizing their potential.