Industry studies report that over half of all bills are paid directly through a biller site. In order to provide comprehensive solutions to commercial clients, financial institutions must provide billers with support for the critical billing and collection cycle. SmartPay Biller Direct enables a financial institution's business customers to present cost-effective electronic bills and invoices, collect payments through a variety of secure channels, and streamline the accounts receivables process. This new service is part of Jack Henry & Associates' Enterprise Payment Solutions™ (EPS) SmartPay suite, a complete commercial payment platform that equips business clients to collect funds across a broad array of channels.

SmartPay Biller Direct allows customers to pay bills using checking and savings accounts, credit/debit cards, PayPal and even digitized cash through Jack Henry & Associates' partnership with PayNearMe. Billers, such as utilities, municipalities, property management companies and financial services providers, will be able to accept payments through a variety of channels, including online, through a mobile device, with a customer service representative or through web services integration.

Enabling billers to open electronic bill presentment and payment channels supports their customers' growing demand for more flexible, convenient and expedited methods to access and pay bills. SmartPay Biller Direct provides both financial institutions and their business customers with a robust array of payment processing options, risk management tools and reporting capabilities. The solution is Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) 16 certified and runs in a Payment Card Industry (PCI) Level 1 compliant environment, offering businesses and their customer's security standards they can trust.

Greg Adelson, general manager of the JHA Payment Solutions group, added, "Financial institutions need to partner with their business clients to help them collect payments over as many of the evolving payments channels as possible. SmartPay Biller Direct offers an opportunity to provide business customers with complete control of their bill presentment and payment process. This fills a gap in financial institutions' payment platforms, empowering a stronger strategy to attract and retain profitable commercial customers."

SmartPay Biller Direct's self-service administrative portal allows unique branding with presentment and payment options that can be customized down to the business location level. Creating multiple channels for payment and presentment can help businesses and organizations enhance their online revenue stream while also strengthening customer relationships.