Why do so many businesses ignore receivables?

“A payment is a payment is a payment.” While not the most common of quotes, it is frequently heard in the payments sector and among finance teams alike.

Regardless of the direction a payment takes, it remains a payment. This ethos may be correct in many respects, but is the underlying thought detrimental to your business?    

For years, global receivables have been treated as a secondary feature in the payment ecosystem, bolted onto platforms with minimal functionality. Traditional solutions focused heavily on payables, often leaving businesses to manually chase and reconcile inbound payments from customers worldwide. But that’s changing fast.

A new wave of fintechs is reimagining global receivables as an integrated, end-to-end process, not just a transactional function, but a strategic advantage. These providers are no longer content with simply offering virtual accounts for collection. Instead, they’re building 360-degree platforms that empower businesses to issue payment requests, collect in multiple currencies, manage foreign exchange, make outbound payments, and close the reconciliation loop, all in one unified experience.

So, let’s take a look at why businesses have overlooked receivables for so long, the benefits of addressing them now, and how to optimize your receivables process.

The Missing Layer: Bill Presentment and Payment Request Tools

Legacy fintechs have traditionally offered a means to receive funds into virtual accounts, but little more than that.  

In many cases, platforms don’t allow a business to create or send payment requests to their international clients, especially not in the client's local currency.

This forces businesses to manage invoicing and reconciliation offline, often relying on email or third-party tools, which introduces friction for the payer and laborious admin time for the business.

Now, new players in the payment ecosystem are addressing this issue with electronic bill presentment tools that enable businesses to create payment requests directly within the platform.  

These requests can be sent to international clients who can then settle in their own currency, while the business still receives funds in the desired denomination for example, USD, EUR, or GBP.

This flexibility not only improves the payment experience for customers but also dramatically simplifies internal workflows and multi-currency management.

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FX, Local Settlement, and Cost Mitigation

One of the biggest challenges in international receivables is the foreign exchange (FX) burden on the payer.

If a business invoices a customer in USD but the customer holds Philippine pesos, for example, they typically need to source USD themselves, often through expensive and time-consuming processes involving traditional correspondent banking networks.

Modern platforms are flipping this on its head.

Payers can now settle invoices in their local currency, utilizing built-in FX engines that convert funds at the source of payment at competitive rates. In most cases, this can result in significantly reduced costs for sending and receiving cross-border payments, particularly when dealing with minor and exotic currencies.  

Payments are routed through local accounts, which reduces international wire fees and improves the speed of payment. On the receiving end, businesses receive payment in full, in the original invoice currency, with automated reconciliation in many cases.

For a business, receiving payments in this manner can lower costs, keep their payer satisfied, and reduce the amount of manual work required by finance teams, both in terms of administrative tasks and the time spent chasing up lost payments. A win on every front.  

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Solving the Reconciliation Puzzle

Perhaps the most underappreciated challenge in global receivables is the reconciliation process.  

Payments that arrive via traditional means often lose key metadata, such as invoice numbers or payer names, as they pass through intermediary banks. For finance teams, this means some time-consuming detective work. As they put on their deerstalker and grab their magnifying glass to investigate, they’ll be required to verify matching amounts, contact banks, and follow up with clients for clarity.

New fintech platforms confront this old and tired pain point by integrating payment matching services directly into the receivables workflow.  

When a client initiates a payment, the fintech's technology tracks it from end to end, ensuring that when funds are received, they include clear references, accurate amounts, payer identifiers, and notify both the sender and receiver of the payment's progress.

Even more powerfully, this technology can now connect directly to the infrastructure of banks and financial institutions, software providers, e-commerce platforms, procurement systems, and ERP platforms with API integrations, updating invoice statuses in real-time.  

That means no more toggling between a bank account, a platform, and an accounting system. The entire loop, from payment request to reconciliation, is automatically closed.  

Undoubtedly, many will find this a feature invaluable for streamlining workflows.

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Usability at Scale: From Batch Uploads to Portal-Based Payments

Another evolution is the shift away from static “payment links” toward full-featured portals.

Traditional one-by-one payment links can be cumbersome, prone to spam filters, and have limited capabilities. Businesses with multiple customers or high transaction volumes require a more robust solution.

The latest fintech solutions enable batch invoicing, allowing users to request thousands of payments simultaneously across multiple currencies and countries.

These portals provide clients with a consolidated view, allowing them to book and settle multiple invoices simultaneously, thereby reducing administrative overhead and enhancing the overall user experience.

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Infrastructure That Supports Global Ambition

Of course, none of this works without the proper regulatory and banking infrastructure.  

The ability to issue invoices, collect funds, and settle transactions in multiple currencies depends on comprehensive licensing coverage and robust banking partnerships.

Leading fintechs are going beyond white-label solutions, obtaining direct licenses, integrating with global banks, and launching local payment rails in high-growth markets that other providers previously underserved.

This enables them not only to serve as intermediaries but also to act as infrastructure providers, closing service gaps that traditional banks and even first-generation fintechs have never fully addressed.

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The Future of Receivables is Connected and Customer-Centric

In an era of global commerce and remote work, collecting payments from international customers shouldn’t feel like a patchwork of manual steps and system workarounds.  

Forward-thinking fintechs are building platforms where receivables are just as dynamic, automated, and intelligent as payables.

By combining invoice issuance, local collection, real-time foreign exchange (FX), automated reconciliation, and API integrations, these solutions empower businesses to scale faster, reduce friction, and ultimately get paid smarter.

The era of disconnected receivables is coming to an end.  

And the question now isn’t whether your fintech partner offers you a better payment solution; it’s whether they can help you close the entire 360-degree loop.

Sign up to the TransferMate Platform today and close the loop of your payables and receivables with Global Accounts.

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