JPMorgan's electronic invoice and payment service will allow MetLife to pay suppliers more quickly, which in turn will help suppliers accelerate collections, resulting in early payment discounts and improved working capital management.

"We're pleased that MetLife has adopted our fully-hosted Order-to-Pay solution as one of their key business initiatives, and look forward to working closely with them to reduce operational costs and improve working capital," explained Richard Erario, senior vice president and supplier/payer payment channels business executive, JPMorgan Treasury Services. "JPMorgan is committed to leveraging our extensive treasury management expertise to deliver innovative solutions best suited to our clients' current and evolving business requirements."

JPMorgan Order-to-Pay service is powered by Xign, the leading provider of enterprise order-to-pay software and services. The service provides supplier access through a common portal, affording a single point of interaction with both the Order-to-Pay system and with all of the suppliers' customers. The buyer side of the application resides on a customized Web site that is configured specifically to the requirements of purchasing and accounts payable (A/P).

The benefits of JPMorgan's Order-to-Pay solution include:

• Superior supplier enrollment services, resources and a shared supplier network
• Return on investment typically in the first year
• Significantly lower accounts payable processing costs through front-end paper to electronic invoice conversion, elimination of data entry and manual routing
• Complete automation of the invoice to payment cycle, thereby substantially reducing payment timeframes from invoice date
• Online supplier visibility into the invoice approval and payment process
• Supplier self-service maintenance of banking information to facilitate migration from paper check to electronic payments
• Workflow routing and approval with line item dispute resolution
• Greater ability to capture supplier discounts, plus the ability to increase the likelihood that suppliers will accept new or improved discount terms

"We are excited to be working with JPMorgan in support of MetLife's Order-to-Pay automation initiative," said Xign president and CEO Tom Glassanos. "As an organisation dedicated to procure-to-pay excellence, MetLife is typical of the world-class companies that JPMorgan serves. MetLife's decision will undoubtedly spur interest in order-to-pay automation from other JPMorgan customers, particularly those in the financial services industry."