Payer , a Swedish fintech scaleup that specialises in European B2B payments, has announced its launch of Open Banking payments for B2B in Sweden. The announcement comes at a time when Open Banking has already disrupted the consumer space.

Today it is commonplace for consumers to use Open Banking payments while handling bill payments or at the checkout of an ecommerce store. However, the B2B space has been widely underserved until now. Payer believes Open Banking payments in B2B has an even greater potential for disruption than in the consumer space with a wide range of use cases that can solve specific pain points that businesses already face.

This is why helping merchants implement the right payment mix is important otherwise they will be stuck with something that is either too expensive, causes friction for the end-user or results in costly administrative headaches for the back-office teams. The company is entering into a new space taking care of the payment initiation via Open Banking APIs, while developing an end-to-end solution that helps businesses to capture payments, with full reconciliation and settlement, giving the merchant visibility of the payment status in real time. While there are benefits for the seller, the end-user can also make use of it for its simplicity and security.

Now buyers can complete the payment possibly faster, having prefilled payment information and the same authentication method they would normally use with their bank, eliminating manual errors and friction that should result in better conversion and user experience. Payer partners with American Express The Sweden-based fintech has announced in October 2022 it will facilitate American Express payments in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. This collaboration means that companies using Payer as a B2B digital payments platform can now accept American Express cards as a payment method for all purchases and services.

Why does Open Banking matter? A couple of days ago we talked to Charlotte Wise from American Express about Open Banking and how it is changing the finance environment amid the cost of living crisis and its potential for innovation. We found out that merchants are facing rising costs and a challenging macroeconomic environment, with customer retention and securing sales continuing to be the key focus for them. In the current climate, merchants cannot afford to risk losing customers to a poor checkout experience.

78% of consumers don’t complete a purchase if they’re asked to enter additional information at checkout (Amex YouGov Research January 2021). Implementing Open Banking-enabled payment options that are convenient, secure, and frictionless, offers customers a better experience, in turn, minimising cart abandonment for online retailers. .