Mastercard Inc. is trying to simplify B2B payments with the introduction of its newest service under its Mastercard Track platform, a virtual trade marketplace designed for B2B sales established by Mastercard in 2018.
According to a press release, Track Business Payment Service will be the first global open-loop commercial service geared towards the simplification and automation of payments between suppliers and buyers.
“The business world has accelerated, but the payments that enable it are stuck in neutral – paper checks and manual invoicing need to be scrapped, man-hours need to be applied to more strategic roles and back-offices need tools to help streamline operations,” said James Anderson, the executive vice-president of commercial products for Mastercard, said in a press release. “Mastercard Track helps supplier and buyer partners tackle the systemic challenges of business-to-business payments, reinventing how businesses send and receive funds so B2B payments can keep pace with innovation and liberate enterprises from the inefficiencies throughout the system.”
Business Payment Service will bring with it three key features: compatibility with multiple payment methods, the ability to customize what data is used to process payments by the supplier, and a foundation built on PCI and ISO standards that will apply those standards to all payments made.
The solution will allow for account-to-account payments and card-based payments, and for suppliers to specify their preferred methods of payment as well as the entire range of payment methods that they accept.
By customizing the data that is used to process payments, buyers and suppliers can ensure that remittance data, including buyer identification information and corresponding invoice numbers, will be presented in a uniform and simplified manner, making reconciliation easier and simplifying cash flow management.
B2B payments are a $125 trillion market globally and $6 trillion market in Canada.
Business Payment Service will be rolled out starting in the U.S. in the first half of 2020, with a release in Canada likely coming sometime soon after that.
