Mastercard launches its vision to modernize and transform B2B payments

Mastercard has launched its Track Business Payment Service in the US, aimed at revitalizing B2B payments. The new service will deliver greater control over payments and offer richer data exchanges for both buyers and suppliers.

The Track Business Payment Service enables buyers and suppliers to manage their payments more efficiently in a way that will, says Mastercard, result in better outcomes for both parties.

Using the new system, suppliers can systemically manage how they get paid for different invoices for different buyers. Meanwhile, buyers can optimize and automate efficiencies in paying suppliers with improved reconciliation to manage cashflow and capture early payment discounts.

All of this is managed through a single platform that minimizes the need for manual and time-consuming back-and-forth between buyers and suppliers. Further efficiencies have been built in to the system thanks to improved remittance data with every payment. It will allow suppliers to reduce time and labor costs spent on reconciliation and on making inquiries to their buyers.

“When we started work on Mastercard Track Business Payment Service, we looked at the persistent problems in B2B payments and asked ourselves how we could solve them for the benefit of Buyers and Suppliers," said James Anderson, executive vice president of Global Commercial Products at Mastercard.

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Creating incentives

"We realized that we needed to apply the techniques that work so well in consumer payments: delivering value to both buyers and suppliers, embracing standardization, driving scale by working with the most capable partners and by creating incentives to drive behavioral changes by the participants."

"What we’re building with our partners is a fully digitalized and extremely efficient way for businesses to pay and get paid using multiple payment rails so that buyers and suppliers each capture new and demonstrable value from their payments activity,” Anderson said.

“It gives businesses a way to maintain control, manage cash flow better and be more operationally efficient – all things that are incredibly important for companies navigating today’s economic challenges.”

The first commercial version of Track Business Payment Service has now launched in the US with distribution partners across the B2B ecosystem, including Global Payments, AvidXchange, Boost Payment Solutions, Corporate Spending Innovations (CSI), Fiserv, HighRadius, Tesorio, Veem, Velo Payments, VersaPay and YayPay.

Beyond the US, Mastercard piloted the Track Business Payment Service with Paymentez in Latin America in 2019, and is planning a full commercial launch there. Further pilots will be executed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific during 2020, with commercial launches to follow. In Europe, Mastercard is piloting card payments with Adflex and domestic and cross-border ACH payments with Veem.

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