Visa and Billtrust Partner to Simplify B2B Virtual Card Acceptance
SAN FRANCISCO and HAMILTON, N.J., Oct. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa (NYSE: V) and Billtrust today announced a strategic partnership to help streamline the reconciliation of B2B payments and increase automation of virtual card payments for financial institutions and their corporate customers. This effort is part of a multi-pronged strategy Visa and Billtrust are pursuing to support growth in the B2B segment. Visa has also made a strategic investment in Billtrust to help accelerate Billtrust's growth strategy.
The opportunity for corporate virtual credit cards that provide a unique 16-digit virtual account number for each payment continues to grow, providing value and efficiency over paper-based payment options such as checks. However, the process for accepting and processing virtual card payments has increased manual data entry and reconciliation challenges for accounts receivable departments. Visa and Billtrust are partnering to integrate Visa's Straight Through Processing capabilities with Billtrust's Virtual Card Capture solution to simplify receipt and reconciliation of B2B payments and bring automation to accounts receivable function.
"One of the key pain points for companies is the time and resources it takes to process payments," said Taira Hall, vice president, US partnerships & new initiatives, business solutions at Visa. "Collaboration with leading partners like Billtrust helps our financial institution clients streamline the B2B payments process for their commercial customers, better support supplier needs, and simplify the process suppliers have to go through in order to accept a payment."
Visa's Straight Through Processing solution enables a participating issuer's buyer to initiate a Visa commercial credit transaction directly from their accounting solution. With Billtrust's Virtual Card Capture, payments sent to Billtrust suppliers are routed to Billtrust for processing and the funds are deposited into a supplier's bank account on the next business day. Further, the remittance is consolidated across all payment sources and matched to corresponding open invoices.
"The integration of Visa's Straight Through Processing and our Virtual Card Capture enables suppliers to more expediently manage a traditionally manual, cumbersome payment process," said Flint Lane, Billtrust CEO. "With the increasing popularity of virtual cards in the B2B market, we're solving what is quickly becoming a very critical pain point for A/R teams – one that impacts their cash flow, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency."
"The ability to consolidate payments from all payment sources and reconcile those payments to the remittance information is the embodiment of the frictionless payments concept," said Erika Baumann, senior wholesale banking analyst, Aite Group. "The partnership between Visa and Billtrust represents a strategic opportunity for thought leaders in the industry to serve their mutual clients by providing a path to frictionless integrated payments."
At Money20/20 in Las Vegas, Visa and Billtrust will take the stage to share more details about the partnership and how they are working together to simplify accounts receivable processes for buyers and suppliers. Stop by the Murano Ballroom on the third floor of the Venetian on Tuesday, October 24 at 3:10 p.m. to learn more.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world's leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company's relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/aboutvisa, visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.
About Billtrust
Billtrust accelerates cash flow by automating invoice delivery, invoice payment and cash application. Companies can improve operational efficiency throughout the invoice-to-cash process with electronic invoicing and payments in a flexible, cloud-based solution. Finance executives and A/R specialists love and recommend Quantum, Billtrust's payment cycle management solution, for the remarkable cost savings, ease-of-use, and improved customer satisfaction rates.
SOURCE Billtrust