Mastercard is advancing supplier reconciliation processes and improving the flow of virtual card transactions with new, purpose-built solutions. Today, it has launched the global expansion of Mastercard Receivables Manager—an automated platform that helps make virtual card payments more streamlined, secure, and cost-efficient for businesses. Alongside this, Mastercard is introducing Commercial Direct Payments, a fully automated straight-through processing system that simplifies how virtual card transactions are made and reconciled, giving payment service providers more flexibility in deploying B2B payment capabilities.
Together, these enhancements are designed to deliver a faster and more efficient B2B payment journey for both buyers and suppliers—especially at a time when the need for automated B2B payment processing is growing across industries. Mastercard’s recent global survey reveals that 93% of B2B suppliers now consider payment digitisation a core business priority, although two-thirds admit they still frequently fall short of meeting buyer expectations.
“Businesses today expect simple, secure, and seamless ways to pay and get paid – with many turning to virtual cards to meet those expectations,” said Marc Pettican, global head of corporate solutions, Mastercard, “To support our clients wherever they are on their modernization journey, we’re thrilled to bring to market another simple path to receivables automation, and to fuel the consumerization of B2B payments around the world in the process.”
Empowering suppliers with enhanced virtual card acceptance
Since its debut just two years ago, Mastercard Receivables Manager has evolved to include new functions such as multi-language support and secure card-on-file storage—tools that support global digital commerce. Now available to customers worldwide, acquiring partners are leveraging the solution to enhance supplier experiences with virtual card acceptance across multiple networks, strengthening buyer-supplier relationships in the process.
In the U.S., payment service providers like Elavon are among those now offering Mastercard Receivables Manager to help suppliers overcome manual processing and reconciliation bottlenecks—an issue that 42% of suppliers have identified as a primary challenge to accepting virtual payments.
EazyPay, based in Bahrain, is one of the first acquirers in the Middle East to adopt the solution, helping transform receivables workflows for local clients and modernise their accounts receivable operations.
Taking the manual out of commercial payments
The next wave of automated B2B payment processing is underway, with many payment providers already adopting this innovation. Commercial Direct Payments is a card network-agnostic tool designed to help suppliers automate their accounts receivable systems while enabling buyers to capitalise on digital payment solutions, especially those preferring card transactions.
Once the buyer initiates a card payment, Commercial Direct Payments ensures that it is routed directly through the supplier’s acquiring bank, thereby eliminating all manual steps in the payment lifecycle. The funds are automatically deposited into the supplier’s bank account. The remittance information he uses integrates directly into their AR systems, which creates a completely synchronised and streamlined payment process.
The solution provides principal advantages throughout the commercial payment value chain:
Enabling supplier efficiency through automated reconciliation: Suppliers are able to match payments by utilising detailed remittance information input directly into ERP systems. In this way the workforce can shift its focus back to strategic priorities.
Leveraging automated B2B payment processing at scale: By facilitating straight-through processing, issuers and acquirers can achieve automation gains immediately without establishing several one-off connections. A single Mastercard connection, provided by Commercial Direct Payments, streamlines the exchange of secure, standardised data.
Strengthening buyer-supplier relationships: Buyers have flexibility to pay using virtual or physical cards, while suppliers get paid with enhanced security, speed, and efficiency.
Commercial Direct Payments is presently offered in the United States, with Sakon being the first customer to take up the offering.