Businesses to benefit from revolutionary Supplier Payments solution

Abbey UK Corporate Banking, part of the Santander Group and OB10, the leading global e-Invoicing network, have today announced a partnership to deliver cash flow benefits and processing cost savings to businesses in the UK, Europe and internationally.

The new service, Supplier Payments, is aimed at large corporates, mid-corporates and public sector entities who wish to make their supply chains more competitive by improving working capital management and cutting the costs of Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable processing.

David Goucher, Managing Director, Abbey UK Corporate Banking, said: “Supplier Payments is a proven global working capital solution that allows your suppliers to be paid quickly while you realise value through extended payment terms or lower cost of goods and services”.

“The solution enhances business’s cashflow, reduces cost and strengthens supply chains. Integration with OB10's global e-Invoicing network accelerates the Supplier Payments benefits, invoices can be processed quicker, costs are reduced and it completes the purchase-to-pay cycle with e-remittance advices.”

Abbey is leveraging Santander Group’s technology and extensive experience in reverse factoring - a specialist form of supply chain finance - to enable suppliers to be paid quickly at a lower financial cost than generally available to small and medium enterprises through more traditional borrowing products. This in turn helps large buyers at the top of the supply chain to extract value through benefits such as free Supplier Payments, lower cost of goods or an extension in trade credit terms.

In addition, Abbey’s partnership with OB10 delivers significant benefits to corporates in cutting the processing costs and improving control and visibility over the sending, receiving and processing of invoices and purchase orders. OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT and e-Invoicing legislation in Europe, North America and Asia and is independent of data formats so neither buying organisations or suppliers are required to implement hardware or software. Corporates adopting the solution will also help to reduce the environmental impact that its invoice processing has, as e-Invoicing significantly reduces an organisation’s reliance on paper.

Jamie Gunn, CEO, OB10 said: “The partnership will provide the next level of e-Invoicing, something quite revolutionary within the buyer/supplier relationship. By combining OB10’s knowledge of global invoicing with Santander Group’s extensive experience in supply chain financing customers will be able to leverage a unique solution to deliver significant cash flow benefits as well as processing cost savings.”

Marcus Hughes, new Head of Financial Supply Chain Solutions at Abbey added: “This joint proposition from Abbey and OB10 gives us a unique position in the market, combining faster cash flow with efficient processing and improved control and visibility. The accelerated matching and approval of invoices and purchase orders enables us to purchase receivables from suppliers earlier in the trade cycle, hence delivering faster cash flow to suppliers.”