American Express Launches Intelligent Capabilities to Help Streamline Buyer and Supplier Payments
American Express today announced a new B2B payment feature and automated invoice reporting capabilities within Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP), which are designed to improve the B2B payments experience for both buyers and suppliers. New findings from Amex Trendex research underscore why this matters: 92% of buyers and 91% of suppliers agree that improving the invoice-based payment experience for the other is increasingly important for their business relationships.
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American Express Launches Intelligent Capabilities to Help Streamline Buyer and Supplier Payments
BIP enables buyers to initiate electronic payments to suppliers as an alternative to paper checks and ACH, leveraging American Express’ unique direct relationships with suppliers to help drive working capital flexibility on both sides of the transaction. To further enhance BIP, Amex is introducing BIP Connect, a new feature that connects eligible BIP customers to Paymode, one of the largest B2B payment networks in the U.S. through a new partnership with Bottomline, a leading provider of payments and financial technology solutions; and new capabilities1 that will automate reporting that matches invoices to payments, helping to speed up processing and improve accuracy.
"We know our business customers are looking for simple and seamless ways to pay their suppliers. That’s why we’re building on BIP’s strong foundation of payments automation and working capital flexibility with innovations that make it even stronger," said Eva Reda, Executive Vice President, Global Commercial Services Products, American Express. "With BIP Connect, we’re combining the strengths of American Express and Bottomline to accelerate supplier onboarding and provide seamless access to one of the largest supplier networks in the U.S. We’re also creating a better payments experience for buyers and suppliers by delivering capabilities that can help drive more on-time payments."
"Getting paid shouldn’t be complicated," said Casey Klyszeiko, Executive Vice President, Global Merchant and Network Services Products, American Express. "As more businesses look to modernize B2B payments, American Express is helping connect buyers and suppliers through a more integrated and automated invoice payment experience that simplifies accounts payable and receivable, streamlines workflows, and makes it easier to do business together."
Expanding How Buyers and Suppliers Connect
With BIP Connect, eligible American Express BIP customers can now access Paymode’s extensive network of authenticated and verified suppliers, helping streamline onboarding, improve payment efficiency and reduce risk, spanning key industries like manufacturing, healthcare, commercial real estate and higher education.
Businesses can now initiate payments with their existing American Express BIP account, while suppliers receive funds via Premium ACH through Paymode with embedded authentication and fraud controls. The new offering creates a more efficient payment experience, helping buyers optimize working capital while enabling suppliers to receive and reconcile payments faster.
"Our collaboration with American Express reflects a shared commitment to helping businesses simplify and modernize the way they move money," said Craig Saks, CEO of Bottomline. "Bringing Paymode into BIP gives organizations greater visibility, stronger payment security, and a more connected payments experience, while helping vendors streamline reconciliation and improve cash flow management."
This comes as businesses look for simpler ways to manage supplier payments. According to the Amex Trendex, payment inefficiencies can affect broader business operations: 67% of financial decision-makers agree that payment inefficiencies make it harder for their business to operate at its full potential.
BIP Connect is available to eligible American Express Buyer Initiated Payments customers today.
Improving Invoice Management Through Automated Reporting
To further reduce friction, American Express is also enhancing invoice management for BIP customers. New capabilities within BIP will help improve invoice matching through automated reporting to drive accurate and timely payments by using data directly from suppliers’ systems, enhancing visibility on the status of invoices, saving businesses time, and helping ensure the right payment gets made faster.
This matters as manual invoice management can lead to payment issues like delays or inaccurate payments. Amex Trendex findings show that 82% of financial decision-makers surveyed say manual invoice processes increase the risk of costly human errors, while about a quarter (23%) of financial decision-makers say that improving the accuracy of invoice-based payment processing would have the biggest positive impact on their business.
These new capabilities are scheduled to be released later this year to a subset of American Express Buyer Initiated Payments customers. Contact your American Express representative for more information.
Amex Trendex Reveals the Hidden Costs of Manual B2B Payments
The Amex Trendex highlights the operational burden that invoice-based payment processes can place on businesses, with respondents citing manual work, time spent resolving issues, and challenges related to cash flow management and business operations. Additional findings include:
- Buyers and suppliers say they spend about a month on average (29-32 business days) processing an invoice payment.
- Even financial decision-makers spend nearly two months (an average of 37 business days) processing and correcting invoices per year.
- About a third (37%) of buyers report that invoice-based payment challenges result in higher expenses or missed cost savings (e.g., late payment fees, early-payment discounts).
- 91% of suppliers agree that improving the invoice-based payment experience for buyers is increasingly important for their business relationships. Similarly 92% of buyers agree that improving the payment experience for suppliers is increasingly important for their business relationships.
- 61% of financial decision-makers surveyed agree that employees spend too much time resolving invoice or payment-related issues. For about a third of financial decision-makers, never having to worry about payment or invoicing delays and errors again would feel like waking up and realizing it’s actually Saturday (35%) or a full year of three-day weekends (33%).
- 90% of financial decision-makers have experienced payment errors in the last 12 months, with duplicate invoices, price variances and incorrect payment information among the most common payment errors.
- 65% of financial decision-makers surveyed say that inefficiency in their invoice and payment experiences make it more challenging to maintain strong supplier-buyer relationships.
Learn more about Buyer Initiated Payments and how American Express is helping suppliers simplify B2B payments.
METHODOLOGY
American Express commissioned a 7-minute online survey among n=521 U.S. Business Owners and/or Financial Decision-Makers (DMs) who manage or oversee specific business functions (including invoice-based payments; accounts payable/receivable; accounts reconciliation; business spend; cash flow; and working capital). The survey included n=100 buyers, n=164 suppliers and n=257 respondents who are both buyers and suppliers. Respondents’ organizations were either small (<100 employees, n=134), mid-sized (100-999 employees, n=200) or large (1,000+ employees, n=187). The survey was fielded between June 10-17, 2026.
At the total sample, the margin of error is +/-4 percentage points (ppts) at the 95% confidence interval. By role, the margins of error for the following are: Buyers, +/- 10 ppts; Suppliers, +/- 8 ppts; Both a Buyer and Supplier, +/-6 ppts.
ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS
American Express (NYSE:AXP) is a global payments and premium lifestyle brand powered by technology. Our colleagues around the world back our customers with differentiated products, services, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.
Founded in 1850 and headquartered in New York, American Express’ brand is built on trust, security, service, and a rich history of delivering innovation and Membership value for our customers. We seek to provide the world’s best customer experience every day to a broad range of consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, and large corporations, and we build and manage relationships with millions of merchants across our global network.
For more information about American Express, visit americanexpress.com, americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/, and ir.americanexpress.com.
Location: New York
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Margaret Manning
Margaret.k.manning@aexp.com
Andrea D’Alessio
Andrea.DAlessio@aexp.com