55% of corporates embrace digital + mobile payments
by Kylene Casanova
A survey shows corporates have embraced business-to-business (B2B) e-payments and value their banks' mobile banking applications - but many are also looking to non-bank providers for their B2B payment services. These are some of the results from a report on B2B payments and working capital management (WCM) strategies by Strategic Treasurer.
The report paints a picture of the evolving complexity of the corporate B2B payments landscape, with two-thirds of the companies surveyed saying they originate payments with three or more banks (while 13 per cent originate payments with more than 21 banks) and four out of 10 companies pay in six currencies or more.
One of the themes highlighted by the results is that payables is an important aspect of corporate-bank relationships (47 per cent said it was very or extremely important), although corporates are increasingly looking to non-bank providers for B2B payments services. The corporates in the survey said they place an emphasis on the bank's B2B payments service and mobile application offerings during bank selection (see graph below).
The study also highlighted the importance of security in the B2B payments industry, as 16 per cent of corporates had experienced losses from fraud on B2B payments within the past year, with an additional 29 per cent experiencing serious but unsuccessful fraud attempts. As shown in the graph below, 61 per cent of the respondents said that their technology spend is influenced by security concerns.
Other findings from the report include:
- 23 per cent of corporates originate payments with 11 or more banks, and 13 per cent with 21 or more banks.
- 45 per cent of corporates see a bank’s B2B payables offerings as being a very important or an extremely important factor in the bank selection process.
- 45 per cent of corporates either had serious attempts made against them or suffered a loss on B2B payments due to fraud within the last year.
- 55 per cent of corporates were making more than half of their B2B payments electronically.
- 35 per cent of corporates would pay a fee or extend a discount to get paid earlier.
- 38 per cent of corporates regularly require extended payment terms from their vendors.
- 52 per cent of corporates saw the automation of AP as an incredibly significant driver.
- five times more corporates plan to increase their spend on card programmes this year versus those planning to decrease spending.
- 54 per cent of corporates saw ACH as their preferred B2B payment method.
- 54 per cent of corporates also saw cheques as the least preferred method of B2B payments.
- 43 per cent of corporates regularly look to earn rebates on their B2B payables.
- 55 per cent of corporates see mobile banking applications as important or very important banking services.
- one-fifth of corporates are using a non-bank provider for B2B payments.
- 37 per cent of corporates were planning to spend $100,000 (£77,676) or more on payments technology over the next year (see graph below).
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