21% More Invoices Paid Early Signal a New Era of Supplier Trust

The surprise in the 2024-2025 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index isn’t that companies managed their cash better.

It’s that they used that discipline to repair the fragile web of global commerce.

This year’s report finds that as CFOs and treasurers gained new control over liquidity, suppliers and buyers began reaping the benefits too, suggesting that working capital has quietly become a new form of business trust.

Published by PYMNTS Intelligence and commissioned by Visa, the Index surveyed 1,297 CFOs and treasurers across 23 countries and eight industries. It found that companies classified as “Growth Corporates” — firms generating between $50 million and $1 billion in annual revenue — are learning to turn what was once a financial safety net into a strategic growth engine.

Access to capital, the report shows, is no longer just about keeping the lights on. It’s about keeping partners paid.

The data tell a story of resilience born of discipline:

81% of Growth Corporates now use at least one working-capital solution, up 13% year over year.

The share using working capital strategically, rather than as a crisis tool, rose 16%.

Those that paid invoices early increased by 21%, a sign that financial agility is rippling outward through supply chains.

That change is reshaping business behavior. More than 7 in 10 companies using working-capital financing reported stronger buyer-supplier relationships, and 68% said they were better able to meet customer demand as a result.

The knock-on effects extend beyond company ledgers: suppliers with faster access to cash can invest in staff, negotiate better terms and, in turn, pay their own vendors faster.

Top-performing Growth Corporates, the upper 20% of the Index, show what the new equilibrium looks like. They cut cash-conversion cycles by 51%, shortened days payable outstanding by 28%, and saved an average of $11 million through lower interest costs and supplier discounts, triple last year’s figure. Their working-capital efficiency became a competitive advantage that improved their creditworthiness and bargaining power at once.

But perhaps the most intriguing shift isn’t in the numbers. It’s in mindset. CFOs and treasurers increasingly expect digital, friction-free financing that behaves more like software than a loan.

Use of corporate and virtual cards jumped 32%, outpacing traditional loans and credit lines. Many executives now view these instruments as the connective tissue of a modern cash-management strategy rather than stopgap borrowing.

What they want from banks has changed too. One-size-fits-all lending is out; personalized, industry-specific solutions are in. Nearly a quarter of respondents said customized products are their top priority, surpassing even better rates. As one executive put it in the study, “We’re looking for a partner who knows our business as well as our banker.”

The takeaway from this year’s Index isn’t simply that companies are paying faster or borrowing smarter. It’s that financial efficiency is creating a healthier commercial ecosystem. Working capital has evolved from a measure of liquidity into a medium of trust. It’s one that allows firms to anticipate rather than react, to strengthen relationships rather than strain them. And for the first time in years, that trust appears to be compounding.