Susan Herbst-Murphy of the Payments Cards Center in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released a discussion paper on the use of Commercial Cards in Business to Business Payments.

Providing efficiency and cost-savings over paper payments (cash and checks), commercial payment cards are among the fastest growing card segments in recent years. Today, they account for nearly one in every five dollars spent using general-purpose payment cards. And since business and government payments are three times larger than consumer transactions, there is ample room for future growth.

Glenbrook's Erin McCune is just back from Sibos 2010 conference, the annual international banking conference sponsored by SWIFT, and has posted her thoughts and observations on the state of the banking industry on our sister website, Payments Views.

Erin gave a well-received talk on The Future of Business Payments.

Sage North America has announced Sage Exchange, a new secure, Payment Card Industry (PCI) certified payments platform delivered in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Sage says that "Exchange will allow small and midsized businesses (SMBs) and organizations to accept all forms and methods of payment, with seamless data integration to a wide range of Sage business management software products and third-party business solutions. Seamless integration between payment applications and back-office software can improve an organization's cash flow and forecasting, while eliminating manual data entry and the risk of errors." READ MORE »

WAUSAU Financial Systems has announced the launch of ReceivableWorks™, an integrated receivables hub that handles all forms of payment on a single platform. According to the company, "the receivables hub is based on WAUSAU's remittance platform that currently manages nearly 40 percent of the entire remittance market. ReceivableWorks™ is designed to simplify a corporation's overall payments architecture by reducing capture time, improving the handling of exception items and monitoring workflow in real time, all while automating, aggregating and accelerating the entire receivables cycle." READ MORE »

Glenbrook's Russ Jones and Erin McCune are presenting a webinar titled "PayPal and B2B" on Thursday, March 18, beginning at 10:30 AM Pacific. "PayPal recently introduced impressive new product capabilities, with its “PayPal X Platform”, including Adaptive Payments and Adaptive Accounts. These capabilities, along with new pricing which is expected to be announced this spring, give PayPal a base to expand into business-to-business (B2B) payments. Glenbrook partners Russ Jones and Erin McCune discuss the nature of the opportunities that PayPal appears to be exploring now – and what the future might hold." REGISTER NOW ($249)

Fifth Third Bank and MasterCard have announced the availability of MasterCard Purchase Control for Fifth Third's commercial clients - a tool that provides control and flexibility in payments management. With MasterCard Purchase Control, Fifth Third Bank will offer corporate clients enhanced global controls and increased transaction security that combines an integrated preapproval process with secure virtual account numbers. READ MORE »

ImageSpan and arvato finance services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of arvato AG, a Bertelsmann company, have announced a platform collaboration to deliver a global clearinghouse that "unifies, drives and accelerates the trade of digital content, including video, images, audio and text. The new global content clearinghouse combines ImageSpan’s automated content licensing, publishing and tracking platform, called LicenseStream, with arvato finance’s PaymentLounge, premium merchant services consisting of global billing, accounting and payment components." READ MORE »

American Express OPEN has announced the launch of AcceptPay - calling it "an online invoicing and payment solution that can help business owners improve cash flow at a time when customers are taking a longer time to pay." In a press release, Amex said it partnered with PaySimple to design AcceptPay, working with business owners to create product features and integrated feedback from product test groups. READ MORE »

BNY Mellon Treasury Services and MasterCard have announced that BNY Mellon will be integrating the MasterCard Payment Gateway into its suite of payment solutions for corporate clients. According to BNY Mellon, "complementing the ACH, wire transfer and check payment services already available from BNY Mellon, the MasterCard Payment Gateway will allow BNY Mellon clients to take advantage of the speed, cost efficiency, security and disbursements management benefits of electronic B-to-B card payments as part of a comprehensive array of payment alternatives." READ MORE »

The latest Federal Reserve G.19 Consumer Credit report is out for the month of August 2009 showing that consumer credit outstanding overall decreased at an annual rate of 5-3/4 percent in August 2009. Revolving credit outstanding decreased at an annual rate of 13 percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 1-1/2 percent. The rate of decline in revolving consumer credit is the steepest reported in several years.

Visa has announced Visa IntelliLink Spend Management – calling it "a new global information tool that provides extensive reporting and expense management capabilities for organizations of all sizes on a single scalable platform." READ MORE »

Visa has released its annual global Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) index estimating that global commercial spending grew to $90.2 trillion in 2008. The annual Visa CCE report provides standardized tracking of business and government spending globally and is recognized as an industry benchmark for measuring commercial spending. READ MORE »

Earthport, a global payments utility, has announced the launch of a global payments service for IBM’s Global Expense Reporting Solution (GERS) offering. The new global payments service, utilizing Earthport’s technology and Universal Payments Network, will extend the existing IBM GERS solution to include the final settlement of employees individual expense reports. It will be marketed to new and existing IBM GERS clients. READ MORE »

Paymetric, a provider of enterprise payment acceptance solutions, has announced an $8 million second round of financing. Palomar Ventures led the round with a $5 million infusion which was complimented by existing investor Austin Ventures’ participation of $3 million. READ MORE »

Transactis and Klik Technologies have announced they will begin offering "the industry's first-ever turnkey, end-to-end, hosted receivables solution for billers, major banks and other financial services companies."

Klik and Transactis are partnering to provide an integrated payment processing portal "enabling billers, major banks and other financial services companies to efficiently process high volume, highly complex transactions. Klik will offer Transactis' BillerExpress™ suite of EBPP solutions, including BillMail ("push" email billing), under its KliknPay brand offering." READ MORE »

Bank of America and Bottomline Technologies have announced a strategic relationship to "advance the growth of Bank of America’s market-leading electronic network for payment and invoice automation. Bottomline Technologies will acquire Bank of America's PayMode product, operations and vendor network. The two companies are entering into a multi-year agreement to operate and enhance this innovative Software as a Service (SaaS) offering. In addition to continuing to market PayMode to new clients, Bank of America will retain existing PayMode client relationships and join Bottomline’s Strategic Advisory Council. The bank will also have an equity interest in the company via warrants for one million Bottomline shares." READ MORE »

Visa and U.S. Bank have announced Syncada – a joint venture that the two companies say "provides a business-to-business (B2B) network for corporations and governments to process and track invoices, make and receive payments around the world, and have payables or receivables financed through local and global financial institutions." As part of the joint venture, Visa said it has made a capital investment in Syncada. READ MORE »

J.P. Morgan has announced the launch of Total Settlement, an electronic payment solution that helps businesses simplify the payment of supplier invoices and lay the foundation for complete order-to-pay automation. According to the bank, "Total Settlement consolidates Automated Clearing House (ACH), commercial card, wire, and standard paper check payments in a single file, eliminating the extra effort in accounts payable involved with processing multiple payment types. A self-service web portal for suppliers provides valuable payment status information, remittance details and allows suppliers to maintain their own contact and payment-related information." READ MORE »

Newly available over on our PaymentsViews.com sister site is a new Glenbrook research brief titled "Credit Card Acceptance for B2B Payments" by Glenbrook's Erin McCune and Carol Coye Benson.

This new research brief is based findings from a series of interviews conducted with business-to-business suppliers about credit card acceptance conducted earlier this year. There's a form in the article for you to request a download of the report.

Last week in New York City, Glenbrook's Erin McCune and Carol Coye Benson hosted an "Opportunities in B2B Payments" workshop - attended by product strategists from card networks, NACHA, The Clearing House, major banks, processors, software and service providers and payments start-up companies. In a post over on PaymentsViews.com, Carol takes a look at the key takeaways from last week's workshop.

If you're interested in learning more about Glenbrook’s Payments Education program, visit here. In addition to our popular public Payments Boot Camps, we offer private workshops on site at your location based on special topics (such as last week's “Opportunties in B2B Payments”) or drawn from our core Payments Bootcamp curriculum, or customized in a combination you can tailor to meet your needs.

J.P. Morgan’s Treasury Services business has announced it is offering ISO 20022 payment initiation and reporting capabilities. ISO 20022 is the core message standard for SEPA and represents the next generation of SWIFT message formatting. J.P. Morgan says it is one of the first to adopt this new messaging standard format that allows clients to integrate core treasury, payable and receivable applications with banking and other financial partners. READ MORE »

Western Union has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Canada-based Custom House, Ltd., a provider of business-to-business international payment solutions for small and medium enterprises. The US $370 million cash transaction is expected to close in the third quarter 2009, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. READ MORE »

First Data has launched PayCargo, a first global online freight payment system for the maritime shipping industry. According to FDC, "the proprietary solution PayCargo offers allows shippers, carriers and freight brokers of all sizes to settle accounts faster and more safely than ever before. The PayCargo system is an electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) tool that helps reduce the cost of approving and disputing payments. It also helps prevent expensive demurrage and storage charges that often result from inefficient payment processes and procedures." READ MORE »

Glenbrook's workshop on New Opportunities in B2B Payments will be held in New York City on May 27th and 28th. This two-day session explores a market that is now breaking wide open: the traditionally paper-based world of business-to-business (B2B) payments. READ MORE »

J.P. Morgan's Treasury Services business has announced that it has gone live with the first phase of enhancements to its international mass payments operating platform. According to the company, "the enhancements will deliver immediate benefits to clients using the bank's Global ACH service, including later cut-off times for receipt of payment instructions and intelligent routing which automatically selects the most expeditious route if a cut-off is missed." READ MORE »

Menlo Park-based Glenbrook Partners has announced that Erin McCune has joined the firm as a partner.

"As a respected thought leader on treasury management issues and business-to-business payments, she broadens Glenbrook’s strategy practice to encompass corporate clients and the financial institutions that serve them." READ MORE »

CSC has announced that it has formed an alliance with direct debit solution provider Sentenial to offer a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) direct debit software-based payment solution. According to CSC, "the offering will enable European banks to provide corporate and public sector customers with a comprehensive SEPA direct debit service ahead of the November 2009 target date set by the European Payments Council. SEPA is an initiative of the European banking industry that aims to make cross-border electronic payments as fast, secure and efficient as domestic payments within one country." READ MORE »

Wells Fargo and Oracle have announced the release of the Wells Fargo Adapter -software that quickly integrates Wells Fargo treasury management services with the Oracle E-Business Suite financial applications. READ MORE »

BankServ has announced that its DepositNow remote deposit service has added the capability for small businesses to be paid directly from emailed invoices. READ MORE »

AurionPro Solutions Ltd. and IP Commerce have announced they are forming a joint venture called PriorityCommerce to build payment-enabled applications tailored to the needs of small and medium businesses in the U.S. READ MORE »