KeyBank Expands Embedded Financing Offering

Cleveland-based financial services provider KeyBank has unveiled end-to-end payment facilitation capabilities, a move the company says allows “software companies to easily own and process payments.”

KeyBank said in a Wednesday (June 1) news release that this new offering stems from its acquisition of digital banking platform XUP Payments last November.

Learn more: KeyBank Buys B2B Digital Banking Platform XUP

“Payment facilitation is an imperative for many companies as they look to compete in a rapidly changing environment,” KeyBank Head of Enterprise Payments and Analytics Ken Gavrity said in the announcement.

“We have simplified the experience for software companies by offering a fintech-led, bank-sponsored, processor-powered solution. The launch of these new capabilities is the most recent example of KeyBank providing digital innovation at scale.”

See also: KeyBank Acquires Loan Forgiveness Counseling Service GradFin

Another recent example came last month with KeyBank’s acquisition of GradFin, a Philadelphia-based public service loan forgiveness counseling firm.

And in April, KeyBank and payments platform Billtrust expanded their Business Payment Provider Network (BPN) relationship with the addition of B2B invoice delivery, letting KeyBank deliver invoices to more than 170 accounts payable portals.

As for Wednesday’s launch, the company says its new end-to-end capabilities give payment facilitators more control over the compliant experience by digitally onboarding merchants, setting and managing risk thresholds and using the reporting suite to visualize transactions.

PYMNTS spoke earlier this year with Megan Kakani, KeyBank’s payments head of emerging products, about the rise in the number of payment choices available to payors.

See more: KeyBank on Payments Ubiquity’s Role in Meeting Consumers’ and Businesses’ Expectations

She said that while the growing boom in payment choice is a positive development, it still presents obstacles for payors trying to meet recipients’ wide-ranging payment demands.

Kakani added that one of the chief challenges for payors making business-to-consumer (B2C) disbursements stems from maintaining security while working in a broad range of payment networks. Payees trust payors with sensitive data, making it vital to strengthen security across various rails.