ACH Marks B2B Payments Traction As Real-Time Rails Expand

Nacha’s ACH Network pointed to B2B payments as a particularly strong segment of growth for the rail — but as real-time payment services proliferate, financial service providers are increasingly prioritizing speed when introducing new business payment solutions to their corporate clients.

ACH Logs New High For B2B Transactions

B2B payments were a particularly strong point for The ACH Network, operated by Nacha, which has just published the latest stats on growth and adoption for the second quarter of 2021. While payment volume on the network grew 9.9 percent, B2B payments specifically saw an impressive 28.7 percent increase, marking 1.3 billion business-to-business transactions completed on the payment rail. The stats offer more evidence for the digitization of commercial payments as more businesses embrace alternatives to legacy payment methods.

“While the B2B payment segment was growing before the pandemic, the transformation of business payments from paper has greatly accelerated over the past year,” said Nacha President and CEO Jane Larimer. “The ACH Network is here to enable fully electronic business-to-business payments.”

SWIFT Debuts SWIFT Go For Small Businesses

Using SWIFT’s gpi rails, SWIFT has introduced SWIFT Go, a new high-speed cross-border payment service for small businesses and consumers. Designed for a high volume of low-value transactions, SWIFT Go highlighted its value proposition for small businesses that need to pay their suppliers across borders. BBVA, Bank of New York Mellon, DNB, MYBank, Sberbank, Société Générale and UniCredit are the first financial institutions to have adopted the payment service, SWIFT said.

Liquid Group Taps Real-Time Rails For B2B Payment Solution

Liquid Group has launched its new real-time B2B and B2C payment solution, now offered through its Corporate Payment Portal for Singapore businesses. Through its direct connection into the FAST and PayNow payment rails, Liquid Group can facilitate real-time payment and collection of B2B transactions. The solution can also support cross-border payments as well as a variety of payment methods, including bank transfers, direct debit and QR payments for real-time supplier payments, payroll payouts, gig worker payments and other use cases. “By combining domestic real-time payments with our cross-border network, we look forward to making real-time cross-border payments a reality soon,” said Jeremy Tan, founder and CEO of Liquid Group.

Santander Boosts Paper Check Performance With Lockboxes

In the midst of disruptive payment rail innovation driving businesses away from paper checks, the payment method remains an important B2B payment tool for many sectors. In a recent announcement by Santander Bank, the financial institution said that continued use of checks by the healthcare industry has warranted the need for enhanced lockbox services, which can promote automation and data digitization for businesses still using checks. The bank announced a collaboration between its commercial banking division and healthcare remittance provider Revenue Management Solutions to introduce a lockbox service that can streamline accounts receivable workflows for healthcare clients.

Barclaycard Loops Into Mastercard Track

Embracing a multi-rail approach to corporate payments modernization is Barclaycard Payments, which has just announced its participation in the Mastercard Track Business Payment Service. Later this year, Barclaycard will connect its corporate clients to the Mastercard service, which uses multiple rails to optimize the movement of business transactions, connect firms to enhanced data and strengthen payment security. It’s an expansion of an existing collaboration between the financial institution and Mastercard, in which Barclaycard wields Mastercard’s card rails for corporate card offerings. “Barclaycard has been a longstanding partner, and we are delighted to be expanding our relationship further, offering new services to make B2B payments work harder, faster and smarter,” Mark Barnett, president of Mastercard Europe, said in the announcement.

Banking Circle Taps SIA For Instant Payments

Banking Circle is looping into real-time payment rails through a new collaboration with SIA, according to recent reports. Using SIAnet infrastructure, Banking Circle will enhance its ability to connect financial institutions and corporates to real-time payments via its connection to Europe’s TIPS payment service. SIAnet also supports the connection. “Banking Circle is making cross-border payments faster and more cost-effective for banks and payments businesses, in turn enhancing the service they provide to their customers,” said Michael Boel, head of local clearing, Banking Circle, adding that “instant payments is a crucial part of this.”