Billtrust Announces Its Next Version Of Business Payment Network 4.0(BPN)

In addition to its current payment and remittance recognition features, BPN 4.0 also facilitates the bi-directional sharing of transactional data and records, allowing invoice presentment to accounts payable portals. BPN, an open network that allows AP and AR networks to share invoices, deposits, and remittance info, now provides invoices to more than 170 leading accounts payable portals.

These new BPN benefits are intended to assist suppliers looking for ways to meet rising buyer demand for invoice delivery that AP and procure-to-pay platforms. According to a 2021 survey conducted by Billtrust, over 350 accounting/finance senior leaders cited “dealing with the amount of customer payment portals” (38 percent) as a top concern, whilst the rest of respondents said their teams work with an average of 11-20 AP portals.

“The integration between BPN and Taulia provides an obvious win for our customers,” said Dave Adams, Chief Customer Officer at Taulia, a leading fintech supplier of working capital solutions. He also adds, “ It creates another channel for invoices to be quickly, easily and accurately presented which leads to high levels of invoice automation.”

BPN's latest invoice distribution capabilities come at a moment when the company is seeing significant increases in both transaction volume and total participation.
Card volume increased by 117 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2021, with overall payment volume increasing by 146 percent as ACH and wire payments were introduced in August 2020. The network has also seen a significant rise in the number of specific bank and fintech payables platforms directing payments to suppliers through BPN, increasing from 34 in 2019 to 58 in 2020, indicating the continued growth of participants in the payables automation sector, as well as BPN's importance to AP platforms looking to increase electronic spend with suppliers.

“BPN is now an even more powerful resource for AP and AR teams to implement straight-through processing,” expresses Greg Hanson, Chief Product Officer, Billtrust. He further states, “Our growing number of participants and network volume, combined with an increased ability to transact across multiple digital modalities, makes BPN a key driver in digitally transforming B2B payments while giving CFOs and CEOs the means to reliably predict and maximize cash flow.”