American Express announces new enhancements to Early Pay in the U.S.

By Pavithra R

American Express has announced the addition of new enhancements to Early Pay in the U.S., the company’s supply chain payment solution to give large companies and their suppliers the ability to pay and get paid through an easy-to-use digital platform.

The announcement is part of Amex’s continued focus on enabling digital payments beyond its traditional Corporate Cards, providing solutions to improve the buyer and supplier experience and help solve common B2B payment-related pain points. American Express’ Early Pay solution was initially launched in 2018, and since then, the solution has evolved to provide significant benefits to both buyers and suppliers.

The enhanced Early Pay solution helps buyers to have greater control of their accounts payable (AP) process for their B2B payments, generate extra cash from early payment discounts and finance their payments when in need of working capital. Additional benefits include the ability to:

• Optimize cash flow by capturing invoice discounts by making early payments, funded and made by either Amex or the buyer.
• Turn potential cash discounts from early payments into savings and working capital.
• Automatically reach and engage new suppliers through American Express’ digital implementation process.

The solution provides suppliers with the ability to help optimize their cash flow by accepting early payment offers from their buyers, in exchange for a discount. Additional benefits include the ability to:

• Choose to accept discounts on all invoices, or an invoice by invoice basis, to get automatically paid early through the Amex Early Pay digital platform.
• Offers fast and easy onboarding, payment and automatic reconciliation process.

“As we continue to focus on enabling digital payments beyond our traditional Corporate Cards, we are investing in solutions to improve the buyer and supplier experience and help solve common B2B payment-related pain points. Right now, businesses are more focused on digital transformation than ever before, with 84% of U.S. business decision-makers saying they feel positive about transitioning to a digital payments system2. The latest evolution of Early Pay provides a supply chain solution that will give businesses more flexibility to help manage their payments and cash flow easily and efficiently. This comes at a time when businesses are seeking a simple digital solution among a rapidly evolving and fragmented supplier payments landscape,” said Daniel Brachfeld, Vice President/General Manager, Supply Chain Solutions at American Express. 

Established since 1850, American Express is a global services company, providing customers with exceptional access to products, insights, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Recently, the firm partnered with Venmo & PayPal to introduce Send & Split.