Receivables automation is becoming increasingly important as corporations look to improve cash flow, reduce manual reconciliation, and digitalize financial operations. Banks play a central role in this transformation, making automated receivables capabilities an increasingly important component of treasury and transaction banking services.
Bank of America has expanded its Intelligent Receivables solution with support for additional Asian languages and local payment instruments. The artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered platform consolidates payment and remittance information from multiple sources and automatically matches incoming payments with outstanding invoices, helping corporate clients streamline reconciliation across diverse markets.
This release in Cision PR Newswire discusses a BofA update to their Intelligent Receivables solution, which was initially launched several years ago and is available across the globe. Improved receivables automation has been a rising theme for corporates in the past couple of years, which we covered in recent member research, and banks are primary service providers to their clients so they need to be at the forefront of cash cycle process digitalization.
‘Bank of America has introduced an enhanced set of capabilities to its Intelligent Receivables solution, allowing clients to process payments and remittance data from local payment instruments in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Thai language, in addition to English….Launched globally in 2017, Intelligent Receivables is now available in all 12 markets where Bank of America operates across Asia Pacific, in addition to New Zealand….
Intelligent Receivables is a comprehensive receivables matching service powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. It organizes incoming payment information and associated remittance details from various payment channels and sources, then matches these payments to open invoices. With nearly 100% data capture capability, the solution is able to send enriched payment information more frequently, allowing for more timely and accurate matching of payments and invoices for corporate clients.’
We participated in a roundtable of various BofA execs across global regions and learned that the global solution incorporates the use of virtual accounts, which we also recently wrote about, and that this capability is expanding across the globe. Intelligent Receivables also uses machine learning to improve the automated matching and subsequent decision making, one decision of which the release mentions, and that is reducing incorrect invoice payment deductions. So these local language enhancements highlight the growing importance of automation in the diverse Asia Pacific region.
‘ “These latest enhancements to Intelligent Receivables are the natural evolution in the rapid migration towards a comprehensive technology-based solution that meets the unique needs of our clients who are operating in the diverse local markets across Asia Pacific,” said Venkat ES, head of Asia Treasury Product, Global Transaction Services. “They provide for great accuracy, cost efficiencies and the ability to redirect precious resources towards revenue generating activities.”….
“In Asia, many large companies with complex operations are still faced with the challenge of manually reconciling payments with open invoices. This is both time consuming and inaccurate. With these enhancements, we are providing our clients tailored solutions to meet their needs, including local language capabilities, and the ability to process transactions from local payment instruments such as the electronic bankers’ acceptance draft (eBAD) in China and promissory notes in Korea,” said Babu Vaidyanathan, head of Asia Receivables, Global Transaction Services. “In short, we are enabling them to enjoy the benefits of a fully automated reconciliation process despite operating in a diverse set of markets.”‘
Automating receivables can address one of the most persistent challenges for corporations operating across multiple markets: accurately connecting incoming payments with the invoices they are intended to settle. Manual reconciliation consumes employee resources, introduces opportunities for errors, and can delay the availability of accurate information about a company’s cash position.
Bank of America’s enhancements demonstrate how receivables automation must also account for the complexities of global commerce. Supporting local languages and payment instruments can help multinational companies automate processes that might otherwise require manual intervention. Combined with technologies such as virtual accounts, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, these capabilities can improve payment matching and reduce incorrect invoice deductions.
The expansion of Intelligent Receivables across Asia Pacific also illustrates the broader role banks can play in corporate financial digitalization. As businesses seek greater efficiency throughout the cash cycle, financial institutions must provide solutions that work across different payment methods, languages, and markets rather than relying on standardized processes that may not accommodate regional requirements.
For corporate treasury teams, effective receivables automation can improve reconciliation accuracy, accelerate access to payment information, and allow employees to focus on higher-value activities. As companies continue modernizing their financial operations, automated receivables and reconciliation capabilities are likely to become increasingly important components of global transaction banking services.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
