Bank of America has introduced Global Digital Disbursements for commercial clients that have deposit accounts in the bank’s Canadian branches. This solution enables the processing of several business-to-consumer payments and consumer-to-business collections. It offers an affordable and seamless payment option for businesses that want to do away with check or cash payments.
With its Request for Pay solution, businesses can send invoices to their customers via texts and email messages. A link is included so customers can pay the amount owed, promoting faster payments.
Some use cases include insurance companies taking advantage of its faster payments feature to settle claims. Tech companies can also use the solution to pay their many freelance workers without having to manage financial information.
“Global Digital Disbursements offers our clients fast digital payments and request for payments to consumers in Canada,” Leslie Konecny, head of product for global transaction services, Canada at Bank of America, said in a prepared statement. “The payments are sent with enhanced ISO (International Standard Organisation) remittance data, and companies don’t have to store their payees’ sensitive banking information.”
Instant Payment Adoption is Expanding
The demand for faster and more convenient transactions is increasing among businesses and consumers. Faster payments can benefit businesses by accelerating their cash flow, shortening the time between invoicing and receipt of funds, and enhancing cash flow management.
For consumers, faster payments mean quicker settlement times, enhanced cash flow management, and an improved customer experience.
On a global scale, Brazil, China, and India are seeing the highest adoption of instant payments, according to a Javelin Strategy & Research report by Albert Bodine, Director of Commercial and Enterprise Payments. The report is titled “Commercial Instant Payments and the Need for Speed.”
India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) volume made up 40% of instant payments worldwide in 2022. By contrast, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States have been slower to adopt instant payments, with Germany coming in at less than 3% of total transaction volume on real-time rails.
