American Express and Bottomline Partner to Streamline B2B Payments

American Express aims to improve the B2B payments experience for buyers and suppliers with two new offerings, including a new B2B payment feature and automated invoice reporting capabilities.

Both offerings join American Express’ Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP), which enables buyers to initiate electronic payments to suppliers, the company said in a Tuesday (July 21) press release.

The new B2B payment experience, BIP Connect, enhances BIP by connecting eligible BIP customers to Paymode, a B2B payment network, through a new partnership with the network’s owner, Bottomline, a provider of payments and FinTech solutions, according to the release.

Connecting American Express BIP customers to Paymode’s network of authenticated and verified suppliers helps to streamline onboarding, improve payment efficiency and reduce risk, per the release.

“With BIP Connect, we’re combining the strengths of American Express and Bottomline to accelerate supplier onboarding and provide seamless access to one of the largest supplier networks in the U.S.,” Eva Reda, executive vice president, global commercial services products at American Express, said in the release.

In Bottomline’s own press release about the partnership, Bottomline CEO Craig Saks said: “By integrating Paymode into BIP, we’re giving buyers access to greater control, enhanced security and a simpler way to manage payables and receivables, while making it easier for vendors to reconcile payments and maintain visibility into their cash flow.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence, Bottomline and FIS collaboration “Time to Cash™: A New Measure of Business Resilience” found that chief financial officers are using real-time payment rails and digital workflows to cut “time to cash.” They are also using artificial intelligence-powered forecasting and automation to build smarter, faster payment ecosystems.

The second new offering from American Express will add capabilities within BIP that improve invoice matching through automated reporting, according to the company’s press release. These capabilities will help enhance visibility on the status of invoices, save businesses time and ensure the right payment gets made faster.

The automated reporting capabilities are set to be released later this year to a subset of American Express BIP customers, per the release.

“As more businesses look to modernize B2B payments, American Express is helping connect buyers and suppliers through a more integrated and automated invoice payment experience that simplifies accounts payable and receivable, streamlines workflows and makes it easier to do business together,” Casey Klyszeiko, executive vice president, global merchant and network services products at American Express, said in the release.

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