American Express Co. continues to roll out new products to help suppliers digitize their B2B payments. The latest product is Business Link, a B2B payments solution that enables suppliers of all sizes to accept card and non-card payments, such as transactions initiated through the automated clearinghouse, wire transfers and check, through a single application. In addition, Business Link supports domestic and cross-border payments.
Business Link also features dynamic reporting tools that provide purchasing and sales insights, as well as tools that enable automatic reconciliation. Business Link’s reporting and reconciliation tools can connect to all customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning platforms through application programming interfaces. AmEx says Business Link is being used by more than 500 businesses across five countries, AmEx says.
“As B2B payments rapidly digitize, we see an opportunity to add a customized solution for our network participants,” Mohammed Badi, president, Global Network Services for American Express says in a prepared statement. “Amex Business Link modernizes how businesses buy and sell from one another with the flexibility to choose in real-time how they want to pay or be paid.”
While digitizing B2B payments through a single platform is becoming a priority for many suppliers looking to speed transaction processing and reconciliation, 40.4% of all B2B purchases in the United States are expected to be paid for with cash or check in 2022, according to research firm Insider Intelligence Inc. Nondigital payment methods are often initiated through siloed applications that make it difficult for B2B buyers and suppliers to track transactions, which slows processing and reconciliation, payments experts say.
The introduction of Business Link follows AmEx’s introduction of American Express Global Pay in August 2022, a mobile-friendly platform that enables suppliers to initiate domestic and cross-border payments in multiple currencies from their bank accounts to their dealers in more than 40 countries worldwide.
