WEX Survey Unveils Senior Financial Executives’ Thoughts on Future of Payments
12 July 2018 - 8:45PM
Business Wire
Second Annual ‘Payments Pulse’ Survey Reveals
that E-Payables show no sign of deceleration, Execs Trust the
Cloud… and Worry About Safety in Transactions
WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX), a leading provider of corporate payment
solutions, released the results of a third-party survey to gauge
views of the payments-processing ecosystem from chief financial
officers and senior financial executives across the globe.
The survey of more than 900 CFOs and senior financial executives
from the U.S., Europe and Asia/Oceana revealed that strong faith in
the cloud prevails in this group. Large majorities of surveyed
executives (the lowest is Asia, with 76 percent) trust cloud-based
systems more than locally hosted ERP/AP systems to keep account
payables secure. A vast majority of surveyed businesses (with Asia
again the lowest, at 86 percent) are currently using cloud-based
payments platforms.
Safety, in fact, came up as a primary concern, with 53 percent
of American executives and 49 percent of European financial
executives likely to be very concerned about information security
as it relates to payments, compared to just 26 percent of their
Asian counterparts. But overall, between 58 percent and 68 percent
of respondents from all regions rated security of transactions as
the most important attribute of a payments solution.
The data uncovered six additional key trends:
- Not going entirely paperless just
yet: Companies are still writing checks for business payments.
Checks are the most common form of payments in both the U.S. and
Asia. In the U.S., it’s checks first (76 percent), then mobile
payments (75 percent), virtual cards and accounts (73 percent) and
traditional ACH (73 percent). In Asia, checks (80 percent) and
mobile payments (71 percent) also dominate. In Europe, virtual
cards and accounts, and BACS/CHAPS are tied for first place, with
57 percent each.
- E-pay on the way up: Half of
businesses have an electronic payables initiative already in place;
another third has one in the works. Just about half (50 percent
in U.S., 56 percent in Europe and 43 percent in Asia/Oceania) of
surveyed businesses have already implemented an electronic payables
initiative, and more than one-third (37 percent in U.S., 38 percent
in Europe and 42 percent in Asia/Oceania) have one underway. Almost
all (89 percent in U.S., 91 percent in Europe and 85 percent in
Asia/Oceania) of those who say they have a payables initiative in
the works are planning to launch it in the next six to 12
months.
- Suppliers engagement is critical:
Financial executives believe maintaining positive relationships
with suppliers is as important as introducing new technologies.
Overwhelming majorities—95 percent in the U.S. and Europe, 94
percent in Asia/Oceania—of those surveyed agree. Additionally,
across the board, more than 85 percent of executives surveyed told
us that they have been at least somewhat successful in brokering
suppliers’ adoption/engagement with electronic payments; more than
half (51 percent) of U.S. executives we polled rated their supplier
adoption as very successful. From the other side of the table,
suppliers across markets value security and speed of settlement, as
well as cost of acceptance as the most important aspects of an
accounts payable solution.
- Hungry for more: Appetite is strong
for further innovation and disruption in payments. Most
surveyed executives agree that payments providers should offer more
innovative technology (81 percent at least somewhat agree) and that
consumer behaviors strongly influence their business’s use of
payments technology innovations (80 percent).
- Leaders of the pack: The
finance/banking industry is seen as a pioneer in the payments and
the new technology space. Survey respondents see
finance/banking as an overwhelming favorite (54 percent) to be the
first industry to successfully implement blockchain and is seen as
the most innovative industry with respect to payments.
- Best on the block: Executives are
very optimistic about the effect of blockchain on their
businesses. Large majorities of surveyed executives (over 80
percent everywhere) feel at least somewhat confident in their
understanding of the function and capabilities of blockchain and
distributed ledger technologies. American executives are
particularly confident in this regard, with over half being
“extremely confident.”
“We at WEX recognize the importance of maintaining a
forward-looking perspective on what’s happening on the payments
landscape,” said Jay Dearborn, President, WEX Corporate Payments,
WEX Inc. “The survey findings support our belief that the
e-Payables industry and trend is showing no signs of deceleration,
and new technologies are key to delivering faster, more secure
payments and settlements to companies. We continue to innovate in
terms of product development in order to provide our customers with
the service they expect, as well as the nimble product innovation
capabilities and payments security they deserve.”
MethodologyWEX Inc. commissioned Zogby Analytics to
conduct an online survey of CFOs and senior financial executives in
the U.S., Europe and Asia/Oceania. From April 13 to April 24, 2018,
501 CFOs and senior financial executives from the U.S., 206 from
Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia (combined), and 207 from France,
Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. (combined) completed the survey.
Based on a confidence interval of 95%, the margin of error (MOE) is
± 4.4 percentage points for the U.S., ± 6.8 percentage points for
Europe and ± 6.8 percentage points for Asia/Oceana.
About WEX Inc.Powered by the belief that complex
payment systems can be made simple, WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX)
is a leading provider of payment processing and business solutions
across a wide spectrum of sectors, including fleet, travel and
healthcare. WEX operates in more than 10 countries and in more than
20 currencies through more than 3,300 associates around the world.
WEX fleet cards offer 11.5 million vehicles exceptional payment
security and control; purchase volume in its travel and corporate
solutions grew to $30.3 billion in 2017; and the WEX
Health financial technology platform helps 300,000 employers
and more than 25 million consumers better manage healthcare
expenses. For more information, visit www.wexinc.com.
About Zogby AnalyticsZogby Analytics is respected
nationally and internationally for its opinion research
capabilities. Since 1984, Zogby has empowered clients with powerful
information and knowledge critical for making informed strategic
decisions. The firm conducts multiphased opinion research
engagements for banking and financial services institutions,
insurance companies, hospitals and medical centers, retailers and
developers, religious institutions, cultural organizations,
colleges and universities, IT companies, and federal agencies.
Zogby’s dedication and commitment to excellence and accuracy are
reflected in its state-of-the-art opinion research capabilities and
objective analysis and consultation.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180712005134/en/
Havas PRMelanie Klausner,
602-373-8131Melanie.Klausner@havas.com
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