Citizens Bank Launches Corporate Payment Solution

Citizens Bank has launched an integrated payments solution designed to make payments processing faster, simpler and safer for its corporate clients.

The bank announced the new tool, which includes invoice automation, on Thursday (Sept. 16), saying it lets companies automate their invoice-to-pay process from one platform. It also lets customers choose from a variety of settlement options and earning rebates on virtual card and ACH payments.

“Payment options are changing rapidly, which creates new challenges as well as new opportunities, so we developed our new Integrated Payables solution to leverage the latest technology to improve the payments process for our corporate clients,” Matt Richardson, head of treasury product solutions at Citizens, said in an announcement.

“With our Integrated Payables solution, the entire invoice-to-pay process can be automated using digital tools to improve speed and control while reducing risk.”

Citizens Bank says some of the chief benefits of its payment solution include reducing the time accounts payable (AP) teams spend on manual tasks, improved control over payment timing, and risk mitigation through vendor bank authentication and payment risk scoring.

The tool also lets customers turn their (AP) departments into a “revenue generator by monetizing a greater portion of virtual card and ACH spend.”

Citizens says the tool leverages Bottomline Technologies’ Paymode-X® electronic payment network, which has more than 450,000 participating business members.

Read more: New Report Shows 36% of Businesses Plan to Upgrade Spend Management, Expense Controls

The news comes at a time when the rise of businesses collecting and paying bills digitally is set to drive another trend that we reported on earlier this week: the surge in the market for AP automation, a sector that could nearly double over the next five years to $4.5 billion.

That’s an increase reflected by PYMNTS research, which shows 35% of businesses in America and the U.K. planning to upgrade their spend management and expense controls. Meanwhile, another 46% of companies say they hope to enable payments from digital invoices within the next three years.