A company's future growth depends to a large extent on how efficiently payments are processed, according to 82 per cent of corporates polled. Yet one in five companies have more than 10% of payments rejected due to incomplete data, according to a study of payments processing conducted by trade magazine FX-MM and Accuity, a payments data services company.

Both banks and corporates participated in the survey and 95 of the 215 respondents were corporate treasurers or CFOs (the remainder were banks). The corporates in the survey had a range of payment needs, with just 9 per cent limited to processing payments in their domestic market only, while the majority – 72 per cent – send and receive payments in as many as 50 countries. Sixty-four per cent of corporates said they intend to expand their business geographically, creating an increasing need for smooth international payments operations to ensure that payments in the supply chain, to customers and employees are made on time.

Need for accurate financial data

FX-MM says that payments data is a critical part of enabling an efficient payments process. And Accuity's Sarkis Akmakjian points out that evolving business strategies and the need to manage payments in emerging markets are putting pressure on global payment processes, increasing the need for accuracy and reliability in payments in all countries. He emphasises the importance of solid financial and routing data, which underpin all transactions.

Inaccurate payments data is major hindrance for corporates of all sizes, with 58 per cent saying incomplete and inaccurate payments data means they spend too much time on manually correcting data errors, while 31 per cent said problems with payments data had led to a lack of trust and posed a reputation risk with vendors. Corporates also noted that poor payments data has a negative impact on cash visibility and creates problems in the supply chain.

Devil is in the account details

Maintaining accurate bank account details for vendors was one of the main payments processing problems for corporates according to the survey:

• 49 per cent said problems arose when vendors did not keep them up to date when their payments data – or their bank’s data – changed;
• 44 per cent said vendors did not supply all the information they needed;
• 29 per cent said vendors found their onboarding process too arduous; and
• 29 per cent said they did not catch errors in vendor data until after a payment required repair.

The graph below shows some of the statements that corporates in the survey broadly agreed with: