American Express has launched a new service known as Early Pay in a bid to speed up payments to suppliers.
The service is designed for large US firms purchasing goods from US-based suppliers.
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It connects suppliers to a digital platform, in order to have their invoices paid before their due dates at an early payment discount.
American Express senior vice president and general manager for global commercial financing at Gina Taylor Cotter said: “The genesis of Early Pay actually began within the walls of American Express. We originally developed a service to use with our own suppliers in 2016, and its quick adoption and success led us to develop the Early Pay solution for external clients.
“Now companies can leverage their accounts payables to reduce costs of goods and services while offering automatic, flexible payment terms to their eligible suppliers.”
The payments firm will not charge implementation, setup, or maintenance fees for buyers signing up.
It also offers buyers various funding options. Under one of these options, American Express can fund the early invoice payments to suppliers on behalf of buyers.
This option enables buyers to increase their cash flow and meet working capital requirements, while maintaining existing payment terms. Buyers can pay back American Express on the original invoice payment date.
Another option enables buyers to self-fund the invoice payments prior to the due date.
