New Digital Platform Automates and Centralizes Corporate Payments

American Express announced today the release of its new PAYVE digital payments platform for automating and streamlining corporate payments. The platform works with a company's current payments processes and banking relationships to make payments more efficient and cheaper to process.

PAYVE is designed for large and mid-sized companies, American Express said in a statement. Client companies will be able to process multiple payment types including check, ACH, American Express's web-based payment services and Buyer Initiated Payments all in one digital platform. By consolidating all these payments methods digitally, American Express said, companies will have more control, efficiency and transparency in their payment system.

"Clients are increasingly asking us to help solve more of their payments challenges. They want to focus less on operations and more on extracting value from their payments," Andrew Jamison, American Express's vice president for Global Corporate Payments, said in a statement.

The platform is designed to work within a company's current banking and payment operations, American Express said. Companies who sign up for the new system send a file to American Express that includes their different vendors and payment methods. American Express then sets up the platform with payments directed to the vendors according to the designated payment method. The platform then processes the payments to the client's banks so that companies can continue their current banking operations uninterrupted.

"Untangling the payables knot is a priority for finance departments looking to help their companies compete and grow," Aaron McPherson, the practice director at IDC Financial Insights, said in a statement. "Payments are often decentralized, time-intensive and frustrating to manage. Many businesses also rely far too heavily on paper checks, adding another layer of complexity and cost."

The system will help companies make the transition, American Express said, from processing paper check payments to card and electronic payments that cost 40-50 percent less to for companies to process, according to American Express. The PAYVE platform also includes a payments analytics service, named Spend IQsm, to help clients improve their payments strategy.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio