Organizations turning to digital payments are seeing clear benefits.

According to the Association for Financial Professionals® (AFP) 2025 Digital Payment Survey Report, sponsored by J.P. Morgan, respondents cited straight-through processing (STP) for A/P or A/R, better supplier and customer relations, and the ability to take early payment discounts as the top three benefits of sending and receiving payments via digital payment methods. A total of 223 treasury professionals from diverse industries and organizations of varying sizes in the U.S. and Canada participated in the AFP survey.

The findings from the 2025 AFP® Digital Payments Survey Report demonstrates that, although the number of digital payment modalities is increasing, their adoption appears to be levelling off. In 2022, 73% of U.S. and Canadian respondents expressed that they were very or somewhat likely to convert eligible business-to-business (B2B) payments to digital payments over the next three years. In 2025, that figure stands at 72%, indicating a plateau in expected adoption despite ongoing technological advancements in the digital payments realm. This stagnation likely reflects corporate treasury departments’ hesitancy to invest in new technologies unless necessary, as well as limited experience with or trust in some of these newer technologies.

The AFP survey explores how organizations are adopting digital payment methods and highlights the benefits and challenges financial professionals encounter in today’s complex B2B payments environment. Here are the key takeaways:

Barriers to digital payments adoption

While digital payments are becoming more prevalent, the path to adoption remains fraught with obstacles for organizations. According to the survey respondents, these barriers are diverse, with several recurring challenges standing out.

Source: 2025 AFP® Digital Payment Survey Report: A Triennial Publication

Among the most frequently cited issues are customer and supplier acceptance of digital transactions, paucity of IT resources, and the costs associated with making changes to internal processes. Most organizations report facing multiple barriers simultaneously. When considering both major and minor barriers, at least 70% of respondents note the following:

• Difficulty in convincing customers to pay digitally (85%)
• Difficulty convincing suppliers to accept digital payments (78%)
• Trading partners’ inability to send or receive automated remittance information (74%)
• Shortage of IT resources for implementation (73%)
• Costs of modifying existing internal processes (73%)

Challenges to digital payment adoption are changing. Persuading customers to pay digitally now tops the list, reported by 43% of respondents, up sharply from 30% in 2022. A scarcity of IT resources is the second-largest hurdle, noted by 41% of respondents, compared with 34% in 2022.

The AFP survey further observed that “Organizations must also convince both business customers and suppliers to accept digital payments, which could result in greater personnel resources needed to transact payments. The difficulty in doing so is often due to an unwillingness to share sensitive bank information such as account numbers, etc. Since payments fraud is an issue that cannot be ignored, these concerns are certainly valid.”

Beyond these concerns, financial professionals also point to the costs of modifying internal processes and the limited integration between digital payments and accounting systems. Addressing such challenges will require organizations to commit significant resources—not only investment dollars but also personnel time—to ensure a successful transition.

Corporate treasury shows limited familiarity with emerging digital payments

Treasury professionals’ familiarity with emerging digital payment concepts—such as (tokenized purchases, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, central bank digital currencies, and stablecoins)—remains limited.

Source: 2025 AFP® Digital Payment Survey Report: A Triennial Publication

Approximately one-third of respondents are familiar with tokenized purchases, while fewer than 30% indicate familiarity with cryptocurrencies, blockchain, or the role of central bank digital currencies in digital payments. Awareness is even lower for stablecoins, with only 13% of respondents understanding how these instruments could operate within digital payments.

Although adoption and understanding of emerging digital payments have grown gradually, treasury executives are likely to gain greater familiarity in the near term. In the U.S., federal support for digital assets is rising. The recently passed Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act provides a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins at the federal level.

For corporate treasury and payments teams seeking a clear overview of the GENIUS Act, CTMfile’s video, “GENIUS Act & Stablecoins: Top FAQs for Corporate Treasury”, breaks down the essentials. View the video here.

Organizations planning to update payments strategy

The 2025 AFP® Digital Payment Survey Report states that “Updating an organization’s payments strategy is a strategic move organizations can make to align financial operations with evolving technologies, shifting customer expectations and broader business goals. As payment options change and the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics expands, an updated payments strategy allows organizations to respond more effectively to digital innovations and customer expectations.”

In this regard, 76% of all survey participants expect their organizations to update their payments strategy over the next three years—a strong signal that staying current is seen as essential rather than optional. The most significant areas of focus for these updates are:

• Exploring new payment formats and channels supported by advanced technology (72%)
• Updating or migrating payment file formats (40%)
• Building a comprehensive strategy for baseline payment type usage and requirements (38%)

Source: 2025 AFP® Digital Payment Survey Report: A Triennial Publication

The momentum behind investing in cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, APIs, and real-time payment rails is steady across the board, with roughly one-quarter of organizations indicating this as a 2025-2027 priority. By contrast, fewer firms (13%) are focused on embedded finance solutions—including BNPL, commercial card programmes, and digital wallets—suggesting that core strategy updates take precedence over newer digital finance offerings.

Interestingly, across all groups, increasing the use of digital currencies is the least popular focus, with only 5–7% of organizations making it a priority. This suggests that, while fintech trends generate buzz, most organizations are still somewhat cautious about widespread adoption.

When it comes to who is leading payments strategy updates, the data unmistakably shows that large, publicly owned firms are at the forefront. However, smaller and privately owned organizations are also recognising the imperative to adapt. Whether through infrastructure upgrades or the integration of new payment channels, there is a collective shift toward building a more agile and resilient payments ecosystem.

Looking ahead, artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are expected to play a growing role in digital payment transactions, driving greater efficiency. At the same time, many organizations continue working to reduce reliance on cheques—a transition that requires navigating operational constraints and addressing barriers to wider digital payments adoption.

For corporate treasury professionals, becoming more familiar with the ISO 20022 standard will be essential, as recommended by the AFP survey. While currently used mainly for wire payments today, ISO 20022 applies across multiple payment types, enabling richer data and stronger security. Together, AI, payments modernization, and standards adoption are set to shape a more streamlined, secure, and future-ready payments landscape.