Online and mobile payments such as bank transfers, online bill pay and digital wallets can simplify accounting processes and improve cash flow and disbursements. Digital payments make it easier for clients to pay and shorten the time it takes for businesses to receive funds by eliminating the time-consuming step of submitting scheduled payment requests.
Additional Benefits of Digital Payments Include:
- Increased payment security
- Electronic transactions may have less risk than checks because banks can run authentication procedures to approve or deny transactions almost instantly. Contactless, cashless transactions are not only more secure, but they also have become the preferred public health and safety option during the pandemic and add convenience that will remain long after the health crisis is over.
- Risk mitigation
- Small businesses can be particularly vulnerable to fraud because it can be challenging to ensure all the proper controls are in place. For example, accounts with high transaction volumes, such as those used for payroll or operating purposes, may be at greater risk and are more difficult to monitor manually. Ask your banker about automated account reconcilement tools to prevent or mitigate fraud.
- Cost savings and convenience
- According to industry estimates, electronic bill pay can reduce processing costs up to 60 percent and is almost twice as fast as checks. With online bill pay, you can also ensure that most payments will not be delayed by the mail, meeting or travel schedules.
FNB Offers Fraud Control Measures to Reduce Risk
FNB’s Positive Pay is designed to identify, flag and report unauthorized check transactions for review via online or mobile banking.
ACH debit filter enables preauthorization of specific Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions, such as those from a payroll vendor, with all other debits presented for review, ensuring both efficiency and security.
Ask one of our FNB Relationship Managers about the best options to safeguard your business.
Person-to-Person Payments ARE Growing
The Zelle® Network continues to grow among consumers and some small business owners. Zelle® is a free service that allows customers to send and receive digital payments with others who are also on the Zelle® Network using an email address or cell phone number. At FNB, person-to-person payments processed over Zelle® in 2020 increased by more than 98 percent over the 2019 average. Zelle® is available for customers who use FNB’s consumer-facing online and mobile banking platforms.
To learn more about which payment solutions are best for your business, contact FNB’s small business banking experts at 1-866-362-4603.