B2B payment solutions provider Optal has signed an agreement with Lloyds Bank to enable the UK-based lender to offer new services to its Commercial Banking clients.
Image: Lloyds Bank selects Optal for B2B payments. Photo: Courtesy of Optal Limited.
According to Optal, its Invapay solution will allow the bank’s customers and their suppliers to benefit from transparent and streamlined payments. The service is expected to strip away the traditional barriers associated with suppliers in accepting card payments.
Optal’s Invapay will allow corporate buyers to use the bank’s commercial cards to pay for their suppliers. It is done by converting commercial card transactions into cash to pay those suppliers who do not accept cards, by way of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
It translates into suppliers not having to go through the time and expense of onboarding processes to receive card payments.
Optal working capital solutions global head Andrew Watson said: “We’re delighted to be teaming up with Lloyds Bank to optimise B2B payments for even more businesses around the world.
“Our Invapay platform really does offer a win-win for all concerned: fast, friction-free payments to facilitate seamless, transparent business processes.”
Claimed to be a highly secured payments system, the Invapay solution will allow Lloyds Bank commercial banking clients to improve supplier relations through the option of offering early payments.
The partnership will help the bank to offer new B2B payment solution to its clients, designed to simplify payments to their suppliers, using commercial cards.
Lloyds Bank commercial cards head James Sykes said: “We are excited by the new capabilities we are now able to offer to our Commercial Banking customers.
“This offers them a great opportunity to simplify their payment landscape, whilst optimising the working capital benefits of their card facility, and expanding the range of suppliers they can pay with cards.
“I am pleased that we will be working with Optal and will be able to leverage their expertise in this expanding area of payments.”
Earlier this month, Optal’s Invapay platform was selected for the second year running as a framework supplier on the UK government’s G-Cloud, offering essential support for public sector supplier payments.