Instant payments were at the forefront of nearly every conversation at the recent Fintech Meetup 2023 in Las Vegas. It was also huge talking point during “The Future of B2B Payments: From APIs to RTP,” the panel discussion that I was a part of alongside Kim Gerhardt of the FinTech Interactive and Ramy Serageldin from Wells Fargo.

When talking about instant payments, there’s so much chatter around embedded payments and, specifically, how it is simplistic for small businesses, can create sticky opportunities, offers easy access to different credit lines and more. But from a larger corporate and enterprise perspective, you rarely think of embedded finance as something that’s really going to drive a lot of value – but it can, and it’s an untapped opportunity that shouldn’t be ignored.

Having worked on the corporate treasury side for 10 years, you gain a unique corporate perspective of how the back-office, account payables and account receivables operate and rely on technology to drive process improvements and eliminate costs. What we see happening today in the marketplace is excellent from an issue and payment perspective. Yet, it could be better when it comes to having the remittance necessary to fully automate the back end of the process.

In the B2B space – especially for corporations and enterprises – having remittance information immediately attached to the payment allows you to reconcile AP to AR and the general ledger and sub-ledger. That’s where all the benefits start to reveal themselves.

However, this process isn’t widely used. What ends up happening is the payment is made to an enterprise or corporation, and then you have a large workforce that has to figure out where the remittance exists, taking up valuable time and resources. In fact, according to PYMNTS.com, experts estimate that 40% of all B2B payments in the U.S. are still made via check – and a check is one of the least secure types of payment out there.

Instant payment with remittance fully attached unlocks credit lines meaning you’re no longer slowing down shop-floor processes. You can ship material faster, spend less time collecting past-due receivables, lower time managing disputes and reduce DSO.

So how can fintechs bring this untapped opportunity to fruition for B2B enterprises and corporations? The technology already exists, from solutions that consolidate all payment methods into one platform and automated processes replacing traditionally manual methods of clearing invoices in the client’s ERP system to those that help mitigate risk and drive operational efficiencies.

Above all, fintechs need to understand how offering real-time payments to their corporate clients brings benefits and value to corporate treasury managers, credit managers and all those folks within the corporate space. With the right mindset and technology, fintechs can leverage this untapped opportunity and position themselves for more remarkable growth.

You can find out more about embedded finance in "The Global Payments Report.”