The growth of the multi-channel payment solutions is accelerating and has important implications for corporate treasurers choosing which payment systems to use for making and sending payments.

Optal to Acquire B2B Payments Business Invapay

Global business-to-business payment solutions provider and virtual card specialist Optal, yesterday announced the acquisition of payments company Invapay (see CTMfile review here), in a deal which will significantly expand Optal's capabilities in the global corporate payments space. 

According to Optal’s CEO Rob Bishop:

• “The acquisition of Invapay enables Optal to deliver a one-stop-shop for corporate B2B payables needs.  Combined with our existing highly successful virtual payment solutions including virtual account numbers or VANs, Invapay completes our product offering, enabling us to offer genuine 'pay anyone, anywhere' capabilities. 
• "Solving payment acceptance issues and optimising working capital for customers is crucial for successful payments solutions in the procurement industry and Invapay are the leaders in this space."

Shared vision

Invapay CEO, Sid Vasili commented, "The Invapay and Optal businesses are a great fit.  This transaction will ensure that the Invapay business has the resources and capabilities to meet our global growth aspirations.  People talk about 'procure to pay' but no one really manages the 'pay' part very effectively.  The team at Optal share our vision for solving that problem."

Adyen expands multi-channel services with different vision

Adyen, the leading multi-channel payment systems provider, believes that, “The ultimate payments experience is invisible.” Adyen, the Dutch payment processor offers a global multichannel outsourced payment solution which:

• supports the WeChat Pay* network in China which unlocks 300 million mobile Chinese shoppers for global businesses. (This is possible without having to have a local branch or entity in China.)
• offers over 300 different local payment systems

Adyen’s aim is to offer “The only payments solution you’ll ever need.” Their clients seem to buy this approach, e.g. Neil Sansom, Omni-Channel Director at Moss Bros. says, "For an omnichannel, multi-market offering such as the one we are developing with Moss Bros, a single payments solution with one backoffice that can be rolled out seamlessly across multiple markets, payment methods, and currencies is a real game changer."

What can banks do?

Omnichannel payment providers are a threat because no single bank can match the comprehensive range and coverage of the biggest omni-channel payment providers like Adyen. They having to adopt a range of approaches - partnering, e.g. ANZ with Invapay, white labelling some services, and cherry picking what they will and what they won’t provide in the payments business. 

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CTMfile take: Not every company will need to use omni-channel payment services as most have quite simple payment and collection needs, but for global companies that need to service many different types of businesses and consumers, then omni-channel payment providers will be essential. For these companies, it is important to understand what long-term strategy your bank has for payments and related services because omni-channel retailing for both consumers and businesses is here to stay.