Do banks really want a big slice of the e-invoicing pie – Article.
Another great article from SharedServicesLink and Susie West on the banking industry and their take on the e-invoicing market. Her point being – are they too late to get a piece of the action?
I got stuck on this section:
…Banks perceive the invoice as a means to an end. What they want is a number of things, firstly the supply chain financing opportunity. This would mean they could pay a supplier early and take a piece of the early payment discount. Some e-invoicing providers offer this, but have to liaise with a bank to liquidate this relationship. Banks are the liquid. So could therefore offer this in a different (more effective?) capacity.
Secondly banks are already cognisant of companies’ bank account movements. With visibility of invoices leaving or arriving adding a layer of information to their already established data set could allow them to strengthen their position as a more informed line of credit…
In my perspective these are the one and only reasons why banks would/should enter the e-invoicing market. And good reasons too! Value Added Services as core business, right?
But, in my experience banks talk e-invoice, not cash management, supply chain financing and e-invoice, they do not overall work together with each other and/or private operators (take Norway as an example, where the PEPPOL network is not a good but essential set up since the financial and non-financial networks didn’t use to work together).
In Sweden at least some banks are closing ranks with operators and other service providers to increase market growth. And, again, we need to look at the potential market growth in segmented ways (in my opinion) – what type invoices are we looking at, from what type suppliers, what type purchase, what type purchasers. Not forgetting the sender aspects of things…