Bottomline Brings Corporates Closer To Faster Payments

Bottomline Technologies has made it a point to focus on payments speed for its B2B customers as of late. Already, the company allows payment service providers to access an array of gateways, including Bacs, SWIFT and international clearing houses.

In this faster payments effort, Bottomline is now rolling out a way for companies to streamline their access to these payment systems and to the U.K.’s Faster Payments Service.

The company revealed Wednesday (March 2) that it is launching the Direct FPS Service, a gateway solution to provide access to the real-time payments system. The tool was designed under the New Access Model, which helps banks and FinServ players to access the Faster Payments portal.

According to Bottomline General Manager of Payments and Cash Management Ed Adshead-Grant, rolling out the Direct FPS tool is geared towards corporate clients that want to offer their own customers a real-time payment option, as well as for new market entrants and nonbank payment players.

“Faster Payments have become a necessity for today’s demanding 24/7 lifestyles,” Adshead-Grant said in a statement. “Consumers and businesses are increasingly using online and mobile to operate and compete in a digital world. This raises the expectations of a modern payments service, where security, simplicity and speed for users are all essential.”

He added that the new Bottomline service streamlines these businesses’ access to the Faster Payments capability, broadening the accessibility of the service.

According to Bottomline, the Faster Payments Service has recently gained traction in the world of B2B payments, especially for transactions like “just-in-time” supplier payments, low-value payments, refunds and remittances, payroll and cash management transactions.

Recently, the U.K. raised the transaction value threshold, with plans to do so again in the near future, according to reports. According to Bottomline Global Business Solutions Managing Director Nigel Savory, this makes the service more appealing to corporate users.

“The higher Faster Payment[s] transaction limit provides new options for the industry and our customers to route their more expensive and urgent payments through FPS,” Savory said in a statement. “We anticipate a number of cost-conscious and forward-looking players to take advantage of the Direct Faster Payments Service to remove unnecessary charges on their payments and service their customers in a competitive way.”