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Online Payments 'Shackling' B2B Commerce

IDC confirms online B2B commerce to be stunted by the lack of automated payment solutions, with only 10 per cent of registered participants at e-marketplaces, being active traders. In short, the limitations of current payment options, such as purchasing (p-cards), debit and credit cards, mean that over 70 per cent of B2B payments are still made with paper checks. P-cards have two limitations as today's leading online B2B payment mechanism, in lacking transaction data, and integration with back-end accounting systems, but MasterCard is addressing this issue with its SmartLink program, devised for SAP systems.

MasterCard's SmartLink program lists transaction data for review on a day-to-day basis, within 48 hours of installation on a firm's R/3 application server, instead of collating this data for review at month's end. By summer 2002, the New York Clearing House (NYCH) plans to offer the first Web-based global payments service for B2B commerce, including clearing and settlement. Later this year, NYCH will adapt its core payments platforms to support a Universal Payment Identification Code (UPIC) to protect against fraud and enable businesses to encode confidential data such as bank account and bank routing numbers.

The Worldwide Automated Transaction Clearing House (WATCH) is similarly developing a low-cost system for batch-based international payments generated by cross-border eCommerce. Visa has also joined with e-procurement solution firm, eIcom, to enable customers of eIcom to create their own branded solutions incorporating Visa's payment services in the LAC and CEMEA regions. Initiatives of this type confirm IDC's prediction that within the next ten years, "payments will evolve from a separate online activity to take their place at the heart of B2B eCommerce".

Related Links
MasterCard Integrates P-Card With SAP R/3
Banks Bolster P-Card Turf Against B2B Firms
EBPP Gaining As B2B Payment Mechanism

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