New Technologies enabling UK B2B Payments acceleration

A recent study by Juniper Research predicts significant growth in the UK's B2B payments market, anticipating a 36% increase by 2028, reaching $3.8 trillion in 2028. This growth mirrors global projections with the market expected to hit $124 trillion as Instant Payment Rails transform the payments space. With this in mind, we take a look at some of the key drivers behind these trends.

Instant Payments: Revolutionising Transactions

‍Instant Payments, which include both Account-to-Account wallets and Open Banking, enable ultra-fast transactions directly from bank accounts. This method removes the need for physical cards, which reduces costs and user complexity, all while enhancing security.‍

Open Banking and Payment Initiation‍

Open Banking, which plays a crucial role in payment initiation, enables third-party apps to initiate transactions using funds from approved business accounts. From a user’s perspective, the process is straightforward with a couple of clicks: choose the account to pay from and approve the transaction.

Automation: Driving Efficiency and Growth‍

In the '3 Key Trends Accelerating UK B2B Payments' whitepaper, Juniper identifies that traditionally B2B payments have been slower to adopt new technologies due to deeper organisational and systematic issues which are in need of being addressed in order for payments to realise their full growth potential.

AP Automation‍

Accounts Payable (AP) Automation was featured as a crucial element in enhancing instant payments, streamlining the entire end-to-end process, from invoice approvals to early payments, all while increasing organisational transparency. This optimisation can improve working capital, by increasing current assets and reducing short-term debts, leading to cash savings which can then be reinvested into revenue generating opportunities.

Differentiating with AI-Powered Solutions‍

Juniper concludes businesses should prioritise AI automation in their organisation's payment processes, bringing a new standard to their B2B payment cycles with AP automation, which can detect and correct invoice errors, expedite internal approvals and simplify the physcial payments process. All of which enable to save money through the reduction in overdue fees as well as finally making a reality, the ability to prepay for early payment discounts.

In conclusion, as the UK B2B payments market continues to grow, businesses must embrace instant payments and automation technologies in order to stay ahead of the curve, operating more efficiently and securely for long term growth and stability.