Bank of America is launching Complete AP to help companies digitise and automate their accounts payable (AP) departments. The bank says that the solution can be integrated into almost any existing enterprise technology with minimal interruption. Through Complete AP, a company can realise an often longstanding objective to digitally transform their treasury back office with ease and speed.

"Many companies overlook their treasury back-offices as a place to find efficiencies or target for technology investments, prioritising instead the more visible revenue-generating initiatives of their business," said Brad Garfield, global head of Commercial Card Product in Global Transaction Services at Bank of America. "With Bank of America Complete AP, however, a company can quickly see results from reduced manual processing and human error, while also improving employee and vendor satisfaction."

Digitising AP

Bank of America Complete AP captures and digitises supplier invoices, routing them for coding and approval via an online portal. A company using the product has full visibility and control into invoices and payments, leveraging organised queues, alerts and audit to keep the approval process on track. Once the company’s AP team selects an invoice for payment, Complete AP transacts the payment via a virtual card, ACH, or cheque in accordance with the supplier’s preference.

The bank states that Complete AP is not solely a technology innovation, but rather a holistic AP solution. The solution’s servicing team manages communications on behalf of the client, helping suppliers enrol in the payment network, make changes to their preferences, or manage research and support inquiries.

"Among the many things the pandemic has highlighted is the central role that digital solutions play in a company’s business continuity plans," said Stephanie Wolf, head of Global Financial Institutions, Governments and Business Banking in Global Transaction Services at Bank of America. "Complete AP could be the perfect solution for a company looking to advance its digital transformation and reduce friction caused by manual invoice processes and paper-based payments."

Part of treasury's digital revolution

Companies that could benefit from Bank of America Complete AP would include those that have a dispersed back office and a desire to centralise AP. The bank notes that corporates currently processing more than 200 invoices per month with more than 75% of total payments sent via cheque could particularly benefit from the new solution.

Bank of America Complete AP is the latest development in the bank’s goal to digitise the client experience. Other recent investments include the expansion of a suite APIs for payments and foreign exchange, a cross-border payments tracker and enablement of real-time payments on The Clearing House’s RTP network.