American Express adds Bottomline network link to B2B payments platform

American Express is adding two capabilities to its Buyer Initiated Payments platform, including a connection to Bottomline’s Paymode supplier network and automated invoice reporting tools. The company said the additions are designed to speed supplier onboarding, improve payment processing and give businesses more visibility into invoices and cash flow.

Buyer Initiated Payments, or BIP, lets corporate buyers initiate electronic payments to suppliers. The new feature, called BIP Connect, will connect eligible American Express BIP customers with Paymode, a B2B payments network owned by Bottomline, according to a Tuesday press release from American Express.

American Express said Paymode gives buyers access to a network of authenticated and verified suppliers. That matters in business payments because onboarding a supplier often requires verification, payment-instruction collection and reconciliation procedures before funds can move safely. By linking BIP customers to an established supplier network, American Express said the product is intended to reduce risk, improve payment efficiency and shorten the setup process.

“With BIP Connect, we’re combining the strengths of American Express and Bottomline to accelerate supplier onboarding and provide seamless access to one of the largest supplier networks in the U.S.,” Eva Reda, executive vice president for global commercial services products at American Express, said in the company’s release.

Bottomline described the partnership as an expansion of B2B payment connectivity through Paymode. Craig Saks, Bottomline’s chief executive, said in the company’s release that integrating Paymode into BIP gives buyers “greater control, enhanced security and a simpler way to manage payables and receivables,” while helping vendors reconcile payments and track cash flow.

The companies are addressing a persistent operational issue in corporate finance: payments between businesses can involve fragmented systems across accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoice matching and supplier records. In that process, buyers need confidence that payment details are accurate, while suppliers need to identify which invoices a payment covers.

American Express also said it will add automated invoice reporting capabilities within BIP. Those tools are meant to improve invoice matching, show invoice status more clearly, reduce manual work and help ensure payments are applied correctly and more quickly, according to the company.

The automated reporting features are expected to become available later this year to a subset of American Express BIP customers, the company said. American Express did not specify in the release which customers would receive access first.

Casey Klyszeiko, executive vice president for global merchant and network services products at American Express, said the company is working to connect buyers and suppliers through “a more integrated and automated invoice payment experience” as businesses modernize B2B payments.

A separate PYMNTS Intelligence collaboration with Bottomline and FIS, titled “Time to Cash: A New Measure of Business Resilience,” found that chief financial officers are using real-time payment rails and digital workflows to reduce the time it takes to convert transactions into cash. The study also found that finance chiefs are adopting artificial intelligence-powered forecasting and automation to build faster payment systems.

The American Express and Bottomline partnership sits within that broader shift toward digitized payables and receivables, where companies are trying to replace manual steps with verified networks, automated reporting and clearer payment data.

This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.