Dive Brief:
- Mastercard said it’s introducing a new receivables tool that enables businesses to accept and process virtual card payments, the company announced Thursday.
- With the tool, companies can process payments without needing to collect and enter virtual card information. The system simplifies the invoice reconciliation process by consolidating virtual card payments from every issuer and matching the remittance information with open invoices, per the announcement.
- The company said it partnered with Billtrust, a business-to-business payments software company, to launch the new service, called Mastercard Receivables Manager.
Dive Insight:
Aside from Mastercard Receivables Manager, the card giant has been focusing more on B2B tools and products in recent years. In 2019, the company debuted Mastercard Track, a tool that automates payments between buyers and suppliers.
The company teamed up with fintech firms Flowcast and Highnote in February 2022 to offer a credit card for small and mid-sized businesses. Later that year, it collaborated with Circular Board, a Houston-based small business support company backed by tennis star Serena Williams, to create a small business credit card.
“This is a significant milestone in our journey to deliver more seamless, digital-first user experiences to the B2B payments ecosystem,” Chad Wallace, global head of Commercial Solutions at Mastercard, said in a statement. “We’re bridging the gap between buyers’ virtual card preferences and suppliers’ acceptance challenges by automating manual processes and transforming the way accounts receivable teams operate.”
Meanwhile, other payments giants have been eyeing the B2B segment for possible growth. Last December, American Express unveiled Amex Business Link, its B2B payments software. The system allows businesses to manage customer relationships, export reports, and reconcile transactions.
As Mastercard streamlines the virtual card management process for businesses, the use of virtual cards is expected to rise in the coming years. A Juniper Research report released in June 2020 predicted that virtual cards would be used to process more than $5 trillion in transaction value by 2025. And in recent years, major companies like Google, JPMorgan and Klarna have experimented with virtual cards.
