B2B payments are undergoing a vast digital transformation, with solutions providers stepping up to offer more speedy options as companies look to expand internationally.
Nowhere is this change more apparent than cross-border payments, where a host of payment providers are offering new alternatives to the tedious and opaque correspondence banking protocols that have historically dominated the industry.
Small- to medium-sized business (SMBs) are some of the primary beneficiaries of these new systems, as they grow more inclined to explore international eCommerce to supplement their in-store sales. This venture into cross-border payments has only become more pronounced since the beginning of the pandemic, as stay-at-home orders have slashed brick-and-mortar revenue to record lows and forced these SMBs to rely on online options to stay afloat.
In the July Smarter Payments Tracker®, PYMNTS explores the latest in the world of smarter payments, including the effect of the pandemic on SMBs’ cross-border payment journeys, the regulatory obstacles and transparency issues these transactions carry, and how the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) could make these payments more seamless.
Developments From Around The World Of Smarter Payments
Businesses are well aware of the boost that cross-border commerce can have on their bottom lines. A Visa study of 1,000 C-level executives from 10 major global markets found that 87 percent of said executives believe that expanding online sales into new markets is one of the biggest growth opportunities for their businesses. The transactions necessary to conduct this business are notoriously challenging, however, especially for small businesses. Thirty-nine percent of them said that they are not prepared to handle cross-border transactions, as opposed to 14 percent of medium-sized businesses and 7 percent of large businesses.
Corporations in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region are particularly aware of these regulatory challenges. SMBs operating in this market navigate a fragmented regulatory landscape, slow processing times and high charges even more than their counterparts in other regions. The ongoing pandemic in some ways has aided the cross-border payment market in this region, however, as social distancing orders have accelerated the demand and adoption of digital platforms that can make the payment experience more seamless.
European enterprises are proactively meetin
g the challenges involved in cross-border payments by forming an industry association called the European Digital Payments Industry Alliance (EDPIA), which aims to create a single digital payments market in Europe. The EDPIA includes several heavy hitters in the European payments industry, including Ingenico, Nets, Nexi and Worldline. The organization also plans to develop the regulatory framework for facilitating seamless payments between EU citizens, corporations and governments.
For more on these and other smarter payments news items, download this month’s Tracker.
Navigating And Improving Cross-Border Payments For SMBs
The ongoing pandemic has shuttered the doors of many SMBs, forcing them to explore international eCommerce options to help bolster declining revenue streams. These cross-border transactions have more than their fair share of complications, however, including slow processing times and lack of feedback if they fail.
In this month’s Feature Story, PYMNTS talked with Alexandre Liuzzi, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Brazilian financial technology provider BeeTech, about how these frustrations can be reduced through the use of APIs and digitized onboarding methods.
Deep Dive: B2B Cross-Border Payments Face Regulatory Challenges, Lack Of Transparency
More than $18.2 trillion flows between the world’s businesses each year – $171 billion of which is made up of cross-border payments. These international transactions must go through a long series of regulatory checks, resulting in them being sluggish, expensive and obscure. This month’s Deep Dive explores the regulatory and transparency challenges facing B2B cross-border payments, and how APIs and cooperation between regulatory bodies can ease these frictions and make these payments more seamless.
About The Tracker
The Smarter Payments Tracker®, done in collaboration with Nium, is your go-to monthly resource for updates on trends and changes in smarter payments.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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