Mastercard has announced its plan to accelerate B2B payment automation for customers and businesses globally with new acceptance developments.
Following this announcement, Mastercard focuses on modernising supplier reconciliation and streamlining virtual card payments with several new enablers. This initiative includes the launch widescale global availability of Mastercard Receivables Manager, an automated solution developed in order to make virtual cards more efficient, secure, and cost-effective for businesses to accept.
In addition, to give payment service providers optimised flexibility in how they offer B2B payment developments, Mastercard is also introducing Commercial Direct Payments, an improved straight-through processing solution that fully automates virtual card payments and reconciliation. Together, the expanded offerings are expected to deliver a fast and efficient B2B payment experience for both buyers and suppliers at an opportune time, as the process of embracing the digitisation of commercial payments is increasingly becoming more essential.
More information on Mastercard’s product launch
According to the official press release, 93% of B2B suppliers shared that the initiative of digitising payment processes is a top priority for their business, while two-thirds still acknowledge regularly falling short of buyer payment expectations. As companies expect simple, secure, and efficient ways to pay and get paid, the new launch aims to bring a simple way to access receivable automation, as well as to fuel the consumption of B2B payments across the globe.
Mastercard Receivables Manager was launched two years ago and, since then, has been improved with new capabilities such as multi-language and secure card-on-file to support digital commerce around the world. The product is now available globally, giving acquiring partners the possibility to modernise supplier virtual card acceptance experiences across major card networks and help customers strengthen buyer-supplier relationships.
Commercial Direct Payments was developed as a new card network-agnostic solution that powers accounts receivable automation for suppliers, while also focusing on improving digital payment opportunities for buyers increasingly looking to pay by card.
When the buyer initiates a card payment, Commercial Direct Payments enables it to be processed directly with the supplier’s acquirer, as well as eliminating all manual steps for making and receiving payments. Following this process, the funds are automatically deposited into the supplier’s account, and the detailed remittance data can be securely integrated into the AR workflow.
In addition, the product will bring several benefits to ecosystem players, including the possibility to drive supplier efficiency with automated reconciliation (this will take place by allowing suppliers to easily reconcile payments using the rich remittance data that can flow directly into their ERP systems, freeing up resources to focus on more strategic tasks), unlock automated B2B payment processing at scale (meaning that issuers and acquirers can quickly unlock the benefits of straight through processing without the need for multiple costly and time-intensive connections with one another; Commercial Direct Payments will streamline this process by providing a single connection to Mastercard and enabling the flow of safe, standardised payment and remittance data between issuers and acquirers), as well as strengthen buyer-supplier relationships (buyers will have the flexibility to pay with physical or virtual cards to improve cash flow, while suppliers can get paid securely, efficiently, and on time).
