Today in B2B: Alibaba Global President/CMO John Caplan Leaves

Today in B2B payments, Alibaba’s global president and CMO John Caplan departs, and embedded financial tools streamline expense management for small- to medium-sized enterprises across the EU. Plus, half of B2B payments will be sent by APIs by the end of next year, and Treasure Financial teaches startups how to maximize their cash reserves.

Half of All B2B Payments Will Be Sent via APIs by the End of 2023

One recent study found that half of all business-to-business (B2B) payments will be sent via application programming interfaces (APIs) by the end of 2023, as reported in The Treasurer’s Guide To AR Payment Optimization, a PYMNTS and CheckAlt collaboration.

This indicates the technology’s critical role in the future of payments. The migration to API-supported payments also comes as the need for digitization pushes more firms to become aware of the inherent friction points in their payments processes. Many firms are still working with siloed systems that make easy sharing of payments and related data time-consuming and cumbersome.

Alibaba.com’s Caplan Announces Departure

John Caplan, head of Aliababa.com’s North American and European operations and its global president/CMO, announced he is leaving the company Friday (March 18).

His announcement comes just days after the company said it was looking for a new CEO for its flagship media property the South China Morning Post (SCMP), as chief executive Gary Liu takes on a new project, running Aliababa’s new NFT spinoff.

Startups Lack Tools to Build, Monetize Cash Reserves

FinTech Treasure Financial, which provides B2B cash management solutions, announced a new product that helps businesses to make better use of their idle cash. The company said the solution, dubbed Treasure Cash, will help customers earn 15 times more than they’re likely to be getting from their bank, with 10 times more FDIC insurance.

Treasure Financial encourages clients to have at least three months’ cash on hand. The company also suggested that they not let that cash sit idle, but instead put it into something that is going to accrue interest.

Embedded Finance Streamlines Expense Management for EU SMEs

Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed the way businesses operate, serve customers, market products and even conduct research, resulting in increased productivity and improved efficiency, as well as significant bottom-line growth.

But for the small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) segment, Ivan Maryasin, co-founder and CEO of Berlin-based FinTech automated finance management platform Monite, thinks they are usually underserved when it comes to finance automation elements. Monite offers a finance management platform that enables SMEs to automate their administration and accounting tasks, all under one roof.