Invapay and Visa sign agreement to support B2B payment automation

Invapay has signed an agreement to work as a payment and reconciliation engine for Visa’s new data and invoice management platform in eleven Asia Pacific markets.

The solution will help businesses to overcome the challenges they face in accounts payable and receivables management that typically stem from a lack of process automation.

 “We believe traditional ways of paying suppliers is outdated,” said John Vasili, commercial director of Invapay in a release. “Organisations can now access major benefits by adapting their supplier’s payment model.

“Finance departments have been traditionally forced to manage their operations according to established working practices,” he added. “Invapay has looked at the total supply chain end to end and developed a solution which helps everyone involved. The system is flexible and Buyers in Europe, ME and the US have seen significant cash flow optimisation benefits both for themselves and their suppliers.”   

The combination of Visa’s data and invoice management platform and Invapay’s payment and enhanced invoice data engine will help overcome inefficiencies stemming from lack of automation. The technology will remove the time and effort spent on invoice matching and payment reconciliation for both buyers and sellers.

“Visa has a significant focus on digitisation of B2B payments”, said Olivia Leong, head of commercial and prepaid products for Visa, Asia Pacific. “Our endeavour is to simplify supply chain for organisations by removing some of the pain points involved in payables and receivables processes.”

“Paying through a Visa 16-digit account delivers extended payment terms for a buying organisation,” she added. “The system now is set up for the supplier community to secure accelerated payments. Both sides will see better cash flow that will then facilitate a reinvestment into their businesses for better growth.”

“The ease of Invapay’s supplier on-boarding processes allows organisations to reap the benefits of an automated payables solution very quickly,” Leong said.

Visa estimates that Asia Pacific contributes 39 per cent of the global Commercial Consumption Index which equates to US$46.2 Trillion. This is an indication of the commercial payment opportunity in the region.

While governments and large corporates, that are significant contributors to global commercial consumption, are transitioning to payments process automation, their suppliers, particularly smaller businesses, may not be set up to receive electronic payments. The Visa-Invapay partnership will help to bridge that gap.

Visa and Invapay have started the technology rollout in key Asia Pacific markets. Initial program deployment is planned for Q1 2015. The alliance agreement will cover eleven Asia Pacific countries; Australia, India, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan.

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