BofA Merrill’s Virtual Corporate Payments Platform Nearly Doubles Suppliers (April 8, 2014)
Virtual payment cards continue to gain ground in the B2B sector, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch announcing its ePayables electronic accounts payables platform has surpassed 100,000 enrolled corporate suppliers—nearly doubling from 56,000 enrolled suppliers two years ago.
Launched in 2005, ePayables is delivered through BofA Merrill Lynch’s proprietary card management platform, Works. ePayables directly supports corporate clients in setting up a virtual card program, and works with them on a continuing basis to enroll suppliers and educate the corporate client and its suppliers on the benefits of virtual card payments. ePayments is projected to process 2.5 million transactions totaling $15 billion in overall volume in 2014, according to the bank.
The 100,000-supplier milestone is “a sign of the growing importance that clients place in an electronic solution for their accounts payable,” said Kevin Phalen, head of global commercial card and comprehensive payables, BofA Merrill Lynch.
The U.S.’s second-largest bank by assets is not alone in its pursuit of replacing checks with electronic payments for accounts payable. The Payments Company was honored as One to Watch: Company in the 2014 Paybefore Awards for its TPC Virtual Prepaid Visa Card Program, which enables companies to eliminate paper checks for making accounts payable and employee reimbursement payments. And with 60 percent of U.S. companies still using paper checks for such payments, the electronic corporate payments sector still has plenty of potential.
