5 emerging trends shaping the future of B2B payments

B2B payment systems are evolving. Companies are leveraging new techniques and technologies like real-time payments, or RTP®, and enterprise resource planning, or ERP, integrations and AI automation to help reduce fraud, streamline processes and improve cash flow.

These advancements are not only improving operational efficiency but also setting new standards. Despite these advancements, many businesses face persistent challenges that can hinder the full potential of payment modernization.

What challenges prevent B2B payments modernization?

Matt Ribbens, Head of Treasury Product Management at First Citizens, and Jennifer Lucas, EY Americas Payment Consulting Leader, highlight several common pain points impacting finance teams today.

• Check fraud: Despite ongoing risks, checks remain in regular use across B2B transactions, often due to legacy systems and customer preferences. This type of payment sees a significant amount of fraud, with 63% of organizations reporting attempted or actual fraud via checks in 2024.
• Social engineering: "Check fraud is our number one target for fraudsters, but we also need to protect against other types of payment fraud and social engineering as well," Ribbens says. This is a concern for a majority of businesses. The 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report showed that 79% of organizations experienced payments fraud attempts in 2024, with business email compromise still a top attack method.
• Poor data availability and management: Data from PYMNTS finds that 88% of finance leaders face challenges in AP operations, citing delays and errors from manual entry and fragmented workflows. Lucas emphasizes how better data connectivity could also help make modernization easier. "A lot of these things—transparency, certainty, cost—all really come down to data availability," she says. "Connecting the pipes of how data flows can solve some of these problems."

Legacy systems, paper checks, siloed data and limited connectivity create friction that slows automation, reduces visibility and increases risk. These challenges highlight the increasing need for modernization.

Below are five trends that can help businesses address these hurdles and shape the future of B2B payments.

1Smarter payment capabilities through payment modernization

Smarter payment tools such as RTP, FedNow® and virtual cards are available and increasingly leveraged by businesses looking to drive efficiency and improve cash flow.

The benefits of smarter payments and payment modernization go beyond speed. They also bring real-time visibility, tighter reconciliation and improved fraud controls to the B2B payments process. As Lucas explains, while faster payments can raise concerns about parting with cash quickly, the real value lies in the ability to track, verify and reconcile transactions in real time.

For example, virtual cards offer granular controls not available with traditional B2B payment methods, such as:

• Single-use card numbers for specific vendors
• Spending limits by transaction or day
• Restricted usage windows
• Merchant category controls
• Real-time spending alerts and reconciliation data

These capabilities give finance teams more oversight while reducing errors, increasing speed and providing transparency across the payment process.

2ERPs talking to banks

Business software integrations are becoming the channel many treasury leaders rely on to access banking operations, thanks to API connectivity. This capability, which at one time was considered impossible, is becoming increasingly important to organizations.

Prebuilt ERP connectors and plug-ins like First Citizens Link allow companies to manage payments, receive funds and handle exceptions all within existing ERP systems. This integration eliminates the need for finance teams to juggle multiple banking portals and creates a single source of truth for financial data. Ultimately, this reduces friction and improves financial visibility.

"It's the consumerization of finance," explains Lucas. "Banks are embedding themselves into your experiences as opposed to requiring you to go to them. With more secure connectivity, it allows you to aggregate a variety of information to work the way you want versus the standards that each individual bank has."

3Emerging global payment standards, such as ISO 20022

Financial institutions worldwide are adopting ISO 20022, a global messaging standard for financial information, to streamline how payment information flows across borders and systems. Major payment networks, including CHIPS, FedWire and SWIFT, are transitioning to this standard in 2025. Newer instant payment systems like RTP and FedNow are ISO 20022-designed using the new standard from their start.

According to Ribbens, beyond standardization, ISO 20022 will let companies harmonize data across different payment types and move between them without losing information.

The richer data format will also allow banks to improve several key areas of B2B payments processing, including:

• More detailed structured data, which can improve fraud screening
• Transparency, which speeds up payment reviews and exception handling
• More complete transaction details, which enhance payments reconciliation

4Taking a trust-but-verify mentality

Check fraud remains a top target for fraudsters. According to the AFP payments survey, 79% of organizations faced actual or attempted fraud in 2024. The Federal Reserve reports that about 62% of financial institutions report experiencing attempted or actual check fraud and that check-fraud losses rose by 5% between 2023 and 2024.

"If you haven't had check fraud, then it's just a matter of time," warns Ribbens. "When you're doing something that we know tends to be a focus of fraudulent activity, we recommend you take some precautions. And there are effective precautions to take to avoid compromise of a payment."

Businesses are doing this by adding multiple layers of security, many of which are bank-provided. For example, account validation services verify payment credentials and recipient information before transactions occur, while Positive Pay for checks and ACH can help catch unauthorized payments. Additional measures—including dual authentication, IP whitelisting and integrated payables—can create a more secure payment environment.

In the excerpt below, Ribbens discusses the growing prevalence of payment fraud and steps organizations can take to protect themselves. This includes implementing Positive Pay systems, strengthening account controls, and leveraging account validation and address verification services, or AVS, tools where available.

5Improving consumer and business collections

To speed up collections and meet rising expectations, companies are offering more ways for customers to pay—digitally, automatically and on their own terms. According to the Federal Reserve, cash use dropped from 31% of payments in 2016 to 18% in 2023, while card and mobile payment adoption continue to grow each year.

"If you're trying to expedite your collections, giving customers more choices of how to pay can be a really valuable tool," Ribbens says.

Companies can offer multiple solutions to improve the collections process and offer a more modern payment experience for consumers and businesses, including:

• Wholesale lockbox services for check processing
• Electronic bill payment platforms for cards
• ACH transactions
• Integrated receivables systems
• Mobile payment options
• Customer-facing payment portals
• Automated reminders to accelerate collections
• Buy-now-pay-later, or BNPL, options to give buyers more flexibility

"It really does change the dynamic of just getting a receivable versus creating a unique experience," Lucas says.

Businesses are implementing electronic bill payment and presentment solutions that combine ACH and card payment options, making it easier to do business with customers. These systems help companies streamline collections.

In the excerpt below, Ribbens and Lucas discuss how offering multiple payment options can expedite collections while creating better customer experiences, especially through electronic bill pay solutions and integrated receivables platforms.

The bottom line

B2B payment systems are evolving through smarter payment capabilities, software integrations and improved data standards. As companies face increasing fraud risks and changing payment preferences, these tools can help streamline processes, strengthen security and improve cash flow management.