Bank of America Says Checks Are Slowing Treasury Down

Watch more: Need to Know With Bank of America’s Irfan Ahmad

For treasury executives, B2C payments have shifted from a settlement exercise to a customer experience opportunity.

Consumers used to real-time commerce now expect refunds, claims payments and disbursements to arrive just as fast. They want 24/7 access to funds, real-time visibility and flexible options. In response, enterprises are rethinking treasury operations to run beyond banking hours and fit more smoothly into the digital experience.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Irfan Ahmad, managing director and treasury product executive for global payment solutions at Bank of America, said the shift has changed how corporations think about payouts, customer engagement and operational efficiency.

“It’s no longer just about moving money,” Ahmad said. “It’s about how the customer experiences the movement.”

That shift has accelerated as APIs, real-time payments, Zelle integrations and push-to-card capabilities allow payments to happen inside the customer journey rather than after it. Ahmad pointed to insurance claims as one example. Teams can now trigger disbursements right after a claim is submitted — at the moment funds are needed — rather than days later through manual review and check issuance.

The Operational Cost of Paper Checks in B2C Disbursements

Despite years of modernization, paper checks remain embedded across many B2C disbursement workflows. They create real operational drag, Ahmad said. “You have to print them, mail them and reconcile them. There are reissues, managing exceptions, escheatment. It’s just not an easy process.”

Digital payouts compress settlement windows and cut administrative overhead. Instant account validation and alias-based payments tied to phone numbers or email addresses help firms improve straight-through processing and reduce failed transactions, Ahmad said.

The impact goes beyond cost savings. Treasury teams have historically managed separate workflows for each payment type, leading to scattered systems with different file formats, reconciliation schedules and exception processes. Orchestration platforms are removing much of that complexity.

“Historically, every new payment method meant new files, new exceptions, new processes and different timings,” Ahmad said. Modern B2C platforms handle all of that in one place.

Why Offering Payout Flexibility Is Now a Competitive Requirement

Consumer preferences are shaping how enterprises build payout strategies. Some recipients want instant settlement. Others prefer traditional ACH. Still others lean toward card or wallet delivery.

The challenge for treasury teams is offering that flexibility without building separate systems for each option, Ahmad said. Orchestration technology lets treasury groups run a single process while routing payments across different rails based on what the recipient selects.

The result is a shift away from batch-based treasury management toward event-driven processing. Instead of waiting days for reconciliation or failed-payment review, treasury teams get transaction-level visibility in real time. That visibility creates greater certainty over outcomes.

“You’re moving away from batch-based, after-the-fact processing to real-time, event-driven operation with fewer handoffs,” Ahmad said.

That evolution also changes how treasury departments handle reconciliation, customer communication and exceptions. If a transaction fails, teams can resolve it within the workflow rather than reopening files days later. Automated reconciliation and transaction-level status updates cut back-office work while improving audit trails and operational control, Ahmad said.

Inside the Shift to AI-Driven Treasury Orchestration

Modernizing B2C payments also affects how treasury teams are structured. As payment routing becomes more automated, teams spend less time on manual reconciliation and more time on controls, governance and customer experience.

Orchestration technology lets enterprises route payments by speed, eligibility, cost and risk — while keeping the experience consistent for recipients, Ahmad said.

“AI is going to play a role,” he added. “It can help by improving routing decisions, predicting exceptions, automating customer communications, reducing manual operations, all while maintaining governance and audit trails.”

Rather than replacing treasury oversight, AI may help teams manage scale as payout ecosystems grow more complex across cards, real-time payment rails, wallets and account-to-account systems.

“The future is going to be personalized, embedded and increasingly real-time,” Ahmad said. “We’re going to see continued integration of these new technologies going into the future of B2C payments, making things more seamless, more personalized and more in the transaction, reducing back-office burdens for treasurers all at the same time.”