Electronic Payments Remain Top Priority for Global Companies in Digital, Mobile Age
August 18 2015 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
Views From Over 300 Attendees Collated at Bank
of America Merrill Lynch Payments and Commercial Card
Conference
While companies around the world are taking note of the growing
emergence of mobile and digital payment applications, many treasury
departments still grapple with the continued existence and enormous
cost of paper payments. Clients at the Bank of America Merrill
Lynch Conference on Payments and Commercial Card continued to
identify that fully converting their payments to electronic was
their No. 1 priority in improving their working capital in 2015.
The second-highest priority was expanding their card program or
adopting mobile/digital business-to-consumer payments. These
and other findings were revealed during the two-day event recently
held in Phoenix.
“We are facing dramatic shifts in the global payments
environment,” said Kevin Phalen, head of Global Card and
Comprehensive Payables at BofA Merrill. “As an advisor and service
provider to more than 73 percent of treasury departments of the
Global Fortune 500, we take our role as facilitator seriously. We
hope the dialogue generated among our clients and other industry
participants will go some way to advancing preparedness and
efficiencies in global commerce,” added Phalen.
This year’s conference, themed “Pay Everywhere: Extending Your
Reach,” drew 300 representatives from 175 companies and government
agencies based in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North
America. The program featured BofA Merrill experts and other senior
industry leaders who spoke on a range of topics, such as how
companies can globalize their card programs; new and anticipated
innovations in mobile technology; and analyses of regulatory
changes impacting payments and cards.
Industry speakers included:
- Wayne Best, global economist, Visa, who
gave the keynote speech
- James Carroll, SVP – Innovation,
MasterCard
- Karen Webster, CEO, Market Platform
Dynamics and founder of PYMNTS.COM
During the event, a number of questions were posed to audience
members, generating dialogue among attendees about their respective
opportunities and challenges. Notably, 50 percent of attendees said
they had a formal payments strategy supported by senior management.
And while many clients said that a mobile strategy was not their
top priority in 2015, 60 percent did acknowledge that adopting a
mobile payments application was something they were likely to
introduce in the future. Furthermore, mobile communications
are increasingly important to clients, with more than 50 percent of
attendees saying mobile alert messaging was “extremely valuable”
for their cardholders.
“We were extremely pleased with the outcome of this year’s
Payments and Card Conference,” said Ather Williams, head of Global
Transaction Services at BofA Merrill. “We’d like to thank our
clients and speakers for their active participation and the helpful
input they provided. The intelligence we came away with will be
invaluable as we determine where to further invest in our platform,
and which new capabilities and services will be most beneficial to
supporting our clients’ goals.”
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Commercial CardBank of America
Merrill Lynch is a leading provider of card solutions to large and
middle-market companies globally, and to federal, state and local
government entities in the United States. BofA Merrill’s Commercial
Card group works with these organizations to design integrated
ePayments solutions that help unlock working capital while
increasing efficiency, visibility and control. As part of the
Global Transaction Services business, BofA Merrill’s Commercial
Card and Comprehensive Payables group develops strategies and
solutions that are closely aligned to the treasury goals of
corporate, commercial and government entities. BofA Merrill
cardholders can be served in numerous languages and have access to
a worldwide network of more than 40 million credit card merchants
and ATMs.
For more information about BofA Merrill’s card solutions, please
visit http://www.bofaml.com/en-us/content/card-solutions.html.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150818005103/en/
Reporters May Contact:Louise Hennessy, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch, 1.415.913.3641louise.hennessy@bankofamerica.com
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