At our recent European client conference, our polls demonstrated that an overwhelming majority of corporates are now demanding e-invoicing services from their banks. When asked: “If you could easily send an e-invoice as a request for payment to any of your customers through your bank network, would you be more likely to use e-invoicing?” 85% of corporates replied: “yes”, confirming that they would be more likely to adopt e-invoicing if their bank supported it. In addition, 33% of our customers thought that the main barrier to e-invoicing uptake was ‘limited infrastructure and reach’ whilst 38% felt that confusion on compliance and standards also played a part. The provision of e-invoicing services by banks can go a long way to break down this barrier.

Banks are notoriously good at providing reliable, scalable, efficient global transactional services so why should they limit these services to payment transactions? 73% of banks asked do not yet provide e-invoicing services to their corporate customers. Corporates are far more likely to entrust core services like e-invoicing to recognised bank brands than unrecognised, small third party suppliers. Providing e-invoicing capitalises on brand recognition and the increased utility of bank services further cements customer loyalty.

The message for banks is abundantly clear: providing corporate customers with e-invoicing services will result in a satisfied and loyal customer base empowered with the multiple benefits of e-invoicing.