Abbey is integrating its in-housee-invoicing platform into its core
banking system in a move that will offer businesses faster
invoicing and what Abbey describes as a new form of
financing.
The bank is integrating its Supplier Payments system into the
Parthenon banking platform developed by Abbey’s parent company,
Santander, to offer a service that will allow businesses to send
electronic invoices in as little as 20 minutes.
The European average time for invoices to be processed and paid
is 59.2 days, according to Abbey.
The system supports a new way of funding suppliers to make goods
where suppliers get paid immediately while the bank takes on the
buyer’s debt.
Under Abbey’s new system, the bank pays the supplier a reduced
amount and collects the full payment from the buyer once the goods
are delivered, rather than the supplier getting a traditional loan
and paying interest.
Even with Abbey’s cut taken into account, it is a cheaper way
for suppliers to finance the products and services they offer, said
Tom Crowe, director of sales and delivery, financial supply chain
solutions at Abbey. “Although e-invoicing is not a prerequisite for
[this method of lending], it maximises the benefits by reducing the
time taken for invoices to be processed,” Crowe said.
Abbey can send the invoices via e-mail, a web browser or Swiftnet.
The invoices go through software supplier OB10, which has an
application to check invoices, allowing them to be approved
quickly.
Crowe said there is minimal integration required for users. “All
suppliers need to do is send a data file from their [accounts
system] to the system,” he said.
The service, which is hosted in Madrid by Santander, has more
than 270,000 suppliers already invoicing through it in continental
Europe. In the UK it has just singed its first public sector
customer.
