The global B2B payments market is charting a dynamic course, and a significant part of this journey is fuelled by the rise of technology, a key enabler pushing efficiency, access, speed, and security in B2B payments, whilst fundamentally redefining how businesses move money and manage their financial processes.
The rise of digital/mobile wallets, for instance, has had an undisputed impact. In 2023, TerraPay enabled 18+ million transactions to mobile wallets across the globe. Moreover, QR code payments, Open Banking, and the proliferation of super apps are expected to drive digital wallet adoption. Cashless transactions will grow the fastest in Asia–Pacific, increasing by 109% from 2020 to 2025, then by 76% from 2025 to 2030, followed by Africa and Europe. The steady rise of mobile wallets and what the industry refers to as alternative payment methods (APMs) are great examples of how technology is driving a shift in opportunities for B2B payments.
In the backend, technology allows businesses to leverage data analytics to gain insights into their payment processes. By building our technology in-house, we can offer agility and transparency to our partners. Our proprietary technology further enables us to report transaction and service data to partners (clients), regulators, and key stakeholders, allowing them to make data-driven decisions for use cases such as compliance monitoring, demand forecasting, and identifying business patterns.
Enhanced efficiency and cost-saving, improved cash flow, faster processing times, and reduced discrepancies are all positive side effects of leveraging B2B payment solutions.
Fintech companies like TerraPay help the traditional ecosystem – encompassing banks, money transfer organisations, and global businesses – to access new markets, accelerate their go-to-market (GTM), and reduce the number of intermediaries, thus saving time and costs. For instance, a regional bank can access our fully compliant network to enable new corridors across the globe, or OTAs can leverage our payment capabilities for business pay-outs globally, in preferred currencies and methods – bank accounts, wallets, or cards. This is an expansion opportunity for businesses.
Collaboration is the driving force of B2B payment innovations. The B2B payment space is vast, and every industry has its specific demands. A collaborative approach will allow businesses to work together to establish common standards and interoperable systems. This lays the foundation for the development and adoption of industry-wide standards for B2B payments, reducing friction and boosting interoperability between different organisations.
Early in 2023, TerraPay and Visa forged a global network partnership with the shared goal of strengthening connectivity across the payments ecosystem through solutions that simplify global B2B payments. Visa Direct is tapping our global network for pay-outs, expanding mobile wallet reach and access to all our corridors. By leveraging such partnerships, we can avoid lengthy individual bank integrations and make transformative changes for customers, accelerating ecosystem progress.
No two businesses are alike, so the idea of implementing a blanket, universally applicable payment strategy is somewhat outdated, especially in a world where the demand for flexibility and personalisation is rapidly rising.
Take the travel industry, for instance. On the one side, there are businesses like travel aggregators, OTAs, global distribution systems, etc., while on the other you have suppliers like hotels, tour guides, transit systems, etc. This industry has an overwhelming number of challenges and unmet needs. Sometimes, the supplier is an individual, and not a company, and therefore requires highly-specialised solutions such as immediate payments and transparent fee structures.
The use cases are far too diverse for one approach to work for all. That effort can work but may not be sustainable, not in the long run.
TerraPay’s comprehensive solutions, whether it’s cross-border pay-outs, virtual cards issuance in multiple currencies, or card-to-account are all tailored to meet the diverse and unique needs of the various players in the industry. While we’re relatively new to the segment, we have been able to tackle some of the industry’s long-standing challenges regarding high transaction fees, slower delivery times, and uncompetitive FX rates while making cross-border transactions.
There are multiple use cases we cater to for businesses in the travel industry. For instance, hotels working with international suppliers often face challenges when they do not accept card payments, which also hinders their potential to increase their revenues due to acceptance issues. With TerraPay, hotels can make payments directly to the supplier’s bank account in their local currency through TerraPay’s card-to-account. Similarly, for instance, airlines suffer administrative burdens due to a large number of low-value payments that occur when they refund or compensate their customers for cancelled flights. By utilising TerraPay’s API, airlines can initiate hassle-free bulk payments in preferred modes of payments, giving a choice to the end consumers.
This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Cross-Border Payments and Ecommerce Report 2023–2024, which taps into the fast-growing cross-border market and provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments that are pivotal in this space, being the ultimate source of information for ecommerce businesses interested in expanding globally.
Aniruddha Sane, a seasoned entrepreneur, is a founding member of TerraPay Payment Services, a global cross-border payments network. With over 20 years of experience in global business development for electronic payments and services, Ani, as he is more popularly known, plays a pivotal role in shaping TerraPay’s success and leading the company’s global growth plans.
TerraPay is on a mission to simplify global money movement – providing a single connection to the most expansive cross-border payments network regulated in 30 global markets and enabling payments to 139 receiving countries, 210+ sending countries, over 7.5 billion bank accounts, and more than 2.1 billion mobile wallets.
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