Mastercard and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) digital platform provider, 4thWave have inked a deal, targeting a $7 trillion commercial payments market in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.
The partnership is aiming to streamline business-to-business (B2B) payment flows in a market where B2B account payables and receivables comprise more than 85% of these flows. In recent years, inefficient invoice and payment processing has been a key contributor to strained vendor relationships with. An IBM Cost of a Data Breach report found that 72% of organisations experienced this problem, in turn leading to sub-optimal supplier relationships.
How will the collaboration work?
The firms said the collaboration will leverage 4thWave’s advanced supply chain finance platform for managing B2B payments allowing Mastercard’s commercial customers to enablie cashflow for corporate buyers and suppliers. Additionally, they will streghten the offerings available as part of Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments (ICCP), a solution that helps to streamline B2B payments using unique, generated virtual account numbers.
Mastercard’s straight through processing (STP) will further increase virtual card account acceptance to deliver funds for approved transactions to suppliers’ bank accounts, the firms said.
“In line with our commitment to helping businesses worldwide transform the way they pay and get paid, we are investing in enhanced capabilities in the commercial B2B payments space. Our partnership with 4thWave, a result of our continued focus on solving for B2B accounts payable and receivables, will allow us to jointly provide enhanced value to all participants in the supply chain,” said Clyde Rosanowski, Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA, Mastercard.
“The B2B businesses, especially in the SME & MSME segment, have been severely impacted by the slowness in collections of receivables. This has led to severe liquidity crunch that has negative consequences for the survival of these businesses,”said Dan Mishra, the chairman of 4THWAVE INC.
“Our combined solution with Mastercard addresses this need by providing an easy and innovative financing platform that will rekindle and spur much-needed growth in the economies,” he added.
