How US Bank, Wells Fargo are digitizing back office B2B payments

U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo are advancing B2B payment solutions with the debut of two new automated products for back-office operations. Wells Fargo on Thursday released its WellsOne Virtual Card Payment Service, which allows business owners to eliminate paper checks by using a one-time virtual card number to digitally pay invoices. The virtual card numbers are tied to a commercial card account, and business customers initiate the digitized workflow by sending payment instructions to Wells Fargo in a batch payment file or through the company’s enterprise resource planning system. The invoices to be paid by card are routed to the virtual card payments service, where Wells assigns each card payment a unique one-time number used only for the exact dollar amount. The automated process uses intelligent routing to direct the payment to the recipient’s bank account or to a secure portal for recipient collection, said Mary Mazzochi, senior vice president and manager of the commercial card product suite. The virtual card route allows Wells Fargo to efficiently grow the product despite the one-time use element, Mazzochi said, as the modelling behind the potential combinations is scalable and configurable. Beyond digitizing invoice workflows, the product’s use of a one-time virtual card helps to strengthen fraud protection. The virtual card payments service also includes a dashboard for tracking and reconciling payments, an audit trail, and a supplier analysis function that helps to determine the best accounts to pay by card. The offering is part of the WellsOne Commercial Card, a purchasing tool used by businesses for procurement, accounts payable invoices and other expenses. Meanwhile, U.S. Bank is taking a partnership approach to digitizing the invoicing and payments process. Last week the $540 billion bank partnered with Bottomline Paymode-X to connect its business clients with the vendor’s network of 425,000 suppliers for a product called AP Optimizer. The bank is already outlining API integrations and new payment types for the product, said Nicole Tackett, senior vice president and head of product and strategy for the bank’s corporate payment systems. AP Optimizer adds digital invoicing capabilities to U.S. Bank’s accounts payable offerings, something the bank previously didn’t offer. “We were really focused on payments and solutions very centered around the payment,” Tackett said. “It really is a much broader solution than what we’ve offered our customers.” With the new capability, U.S. Bank is going beyond payments by providing a single interface for its customers to manage the entire accounts payable process, from creating a purchase order to capturing invoice and providing transparency into the workflow for approvals. It also includes paying suppliers, reconciling and the reporting. U.S. Bank is currently integrated with Bottomline with a file-based exchange process, but is planning an API integration for its near-term roadmap to allow for faster innovations and integrations in the future, Tackett said. U.S. Bank is also eyeing the addition of RTP and Zelle as payment types for AP Optimizer; it already offers virtual cards, wire and ACH. While both banks already have customers using their new invoicing and payments products, industry-wide adoption is far off, despite the pandemic pushing many businesses to digital. Still, 50% of business payments today are still made by check, Tackett said. Compared with consumers, businesses are slower to adopt electronic, mobile and real-time payments, as it’s a working capital game, she said.

How US Bank, Wells Fargo are digitizing back office B2B payments

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