Banks Pair Up To Improve Age-Old Business Friction

Business banking hasn’t always been flashy or innovative. But with the help from some industry friends, financial institutions today are looking to improve the experience for both small businesses and larger corporates.

In this week’s look at bank-FinTech collaboration, new partnerships aim to address some of the longest-standing points of friction in business finance, including late payments to small suppliers and the headache of manually managing check payment data. In Latin America, meanwhile, one bank is teaming up with a FinTech to launch an entirely new financial institution that will focus on corporate services like trade finance. PYMNTS rounds up the latest tie-ups below.

BCI And Temenos Target Corporate Banking

Chile-based bank BCI recently announced its partnership with payments and banking technology firm Temenos, with the partners looking to launch a corporate bank in Peru. Temenos will integrate its Transact and Infinity payments and banking technologies within the new bank, which will focus on corporate financial services and trade financing. The new bank is set to launch next year, the companies said, with BCI highlighting Temenos’ ability to provide an omnichannel experience for corporate customers, as well as automation within the bank’s own back office.

“We selected Temenos as our strategic technology partner to support us with our growing plan in Peru,” BIC Managing Director, International Strategy Development Eduardo Nazal said in a statement. “Temenos’ advanced technology, scale and international expertise made them the ideal partner.”

Tide, GoCardless Link For SMBs

In the U.K., challenger bank Tide is teaming up with GoCardless to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) streamline their accounts receivable workflows. Together, the companies are connecting SMBs to Direct Debit to accept invoice payments in an effort to combat the friction of late payments. Tide’s small business customers can establish a time to collect payments from their clients at the time an invoice is due, and will have visibility into the status of that transaction, the companies noted.

“Being able to set up Direct Debit payments for invoices will be game changing for our members, making the payment process quicker and smoother for both the small business owner and customer,” Tide CEO Oliver Prill said in the announcement.

“Our mission is to take the pain out of getting paid so that businesses can focus on what they do best,” GoCardless CEO Hiroki Takeuchi added. “This is more important than ever in today’s economic climate, and our partnership with Tide will help make this a reality for many more small businesses.”

Citizens Bank And CheckAlt Tackle Check Friction

While B2B payments are quickly digitizing, paper checks continue to retain a significant share of the market. In an effort to address the friction of paper checks, Citizens Bank & Trust is collaborating with CheckAlt to launch lockbox and corporate treasury services. Citizens had previously processed lockbox payments in-house, but will now use CheckAlt to batch, scan, process and deliver check payments.

“We greatly appreciate CheckAlt’s availability to quickly respond to questions throughout the selection process and are eager to work with the team to support our bank’s growth,” said Chad Tagtow, senior vice president and chief information officer at Citizens Bank & Trust, noting that integrating CheckAlt’s technology will improve the bank’s corporate customer experience.