BILL Debuts Cross-Border Instant Payments for Small Businesses

BILL has introduced new payment offerings for small businesses and accountants.

The new capabilities, announced by the financial platform Wednesday (Sept. 25), include Local Transfer – an international payment option for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — along with upgrades to BILL’s instant payment and invoice financing payment offerings.

“SMBs are increasingly facing more complexity as they make payments to vendors, partners, and customers both locally and around the world,” Mary Kay Bowman, general manager for payments and financial services at BILL, said in a news release.

“This is why BILL continues to enhance our payment experiences to give SMBs more flexibility to make the payment choices businesses need and to manage and optimize their cash flow,” she added. “BILL’s sophisticated payment infrastructure gives SMBs the ability to meet unique customer and supplier payment needs, while accelerating payment speed and reducing risk.”

With Local Transfer, businesses can make faster same-day international payments to vendors in their local currency without having to work with intermediary banks and take on the associated fees, the release added. Transactions are delivered directly to local banks abroad, letting businesses pay overseas vendors “like a local” from anyplace in the world.

Meanwhile, BILL’s enhanced payments experience now lets businesses send payments to their vendors in the U.S. within minutes with the new BILL Accounts Payable Instant Payment option. Businesses can also get easier access to capital via the company’s Accounts Receivable Invoice Financing offering.

PYMNTS Intelligence has been monitoring some of the challenges facing SMBs recently, with research showing that these businesses often find themselves locked in an endless battle to manage cash flow, forcing them to focus on survival rather than growth.

“Many SMBs use outdated cash management practices, which leads to mounting pressures from delayed payments and inefficient processes,” PYMNTS wrote recently. “For many SMBs, limited cash reserves force a focus on immediate survival rather than long-term growth. Seventy percent of these businesses hold less than four months’ worth of cash reserves, leaving them vulnerable to operational disruptions.”

And with the vast majority of revenue eaten up by operational costs, SMB owners are often left juggling a fragile cash flow that threatens their stability.

Additional research shows that many SMBs are turning to FinTech solutions to overcome manual processing constraints.

“Despite a forecasted 50% surge in payment volumes and a 46% rise in invoicing over the next three years, many SMBs remain saddled with outdated systems,” PYMNTS wrote.

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