This year, payments has become one of the hottest areas to watch in fintech as the global financial industry moves online. Increasingly, it appears that traditional payments and commercial cards companies want a piece of the pie to adapt to the digitization of the sector. The latest in a week of many announcements in this space is Visa’s latest collaboration with Stripe facilitating ease of B2B payments.
Under this new deal between the two giants, customers without a Visa card will now be able to access Visa’s Payables Automation services. With Stripe in the mix, users will be able to instead access Stripe’s Connect services to onboard with Visa’s Payables Automation Services. Users can effectively pay suppliers who are unable to accept digital payments through a virtual Visa card. Thanks to Stripe, Visa will now have access to suppliers who are not connected to banking infrastructure.
Explaining the venture, Chavi Jafa, Visa’s Head of Business Solutions for Asia Pacific said, “When a buyer needs to pay a supplier, the enhanced Visa Payables Automation platform allows seamless digital payments experience. The supplier will be prompted to register with Stripe Connect, providing a blank account number, and start accepting payments.” He added that, “Migrating to digital payments benefits both buyers and suppliers, as it eliminates manual processing and enhances reconciliation. This improves productivity while reducing errors and fraud.”
As an added benefit, buyers and suppliers alike will be able to handle their working capital more effectively through the use of a Visa Commercial Card. These efficiencies come especially handy in a time of policy-driven recessionary economy where the requirement to manage cash well becomes crucial to many for surviving the present climate. It is fortunate then that the new features have been deployed throughout 30 active markets around the globe under this service. Financial institutions which hold Visa’s commercial card portfolio can also use the Visa Payables automation.
Optimizing productivity, adapting to change, and minimizing errors and fraud will be essential for businesses navigating their growth through to the next phase of this economy. No doubt, this venture between Visa and Stripe will significantly grow the commercial card giant’s consumer base, keeping up with the fast moving fintech sector.
