A 'PayPal For Businesses' Promises To Completely Transform The Way Companies Pay One Another

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THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS PAYMENTS SYSTEM IS RIPE FOR DISRUPTION: Moving money can be a slow and expensive process for large corporations. For example, when a business wants to make a large purchase from a supplier, the legacy payments system requires the purchasing business to get a letter of credit from a financial institution which guarantees payment to the supplier. The bank that issues the letter of credit often charges high interest rates, and transactions can take many days to process.

TRAXPAY GOES AFTER A $300 TRILLION B2B PAYMENTS MARKET: Traxpay, a Silicon Valley- and Frankfurt-based start-up, is disrupting the legacy system with a payment solution akin to PayPal, but for business-to-business transactions. The system allows a company that plans on making a purchase to transfer the purchase amount to a cloud-based Traxpay account. The money is disbursed to the supplier in real-time as the contract and invoice terms are met. "B2B trade is in the midst of a massive shift to e-commerce, and the vast majority of today's $300 trillion in commercial transactions will be conducted online in the next three to five years," says Traxpay's CEO John Brakeman in an interview with Forbes. (Forbes)

In other news...

MORE ON GOPAGO-AMAZON: More details are emerging on Amazon's reported acquisition of GoPago. It seems as though Amazon and DoubleBeam teamed up to buy different parts of GoPago, according to TechCrunch. (TechCrunch)

Alibaba, China's Amazon equivalent, has a tool called Yu'E Bao that is competing directly with traditional banks. It allows people to store funds online and accrue interest, much as they would at a traditional bank (in theory, people will eventually use these funds for e-commerce purchases). The service already has 30 million people signed up. Tencent's WeChat is rumored to be building a similar platform. (Financial Times)

The New York Times has an in-depth article on eBay's strategy for competing with Amazon. The article also takes in Wal-Mart and Uber as examples of digital payments innovation, but says PayPal does have a major advantage: "PayPal has 137 million active users, and millions of them have downloaded the PayPal app. PayPal's head start has enabled it to create a greater variety of payment options than other companies offer."

A PATH TO BRICKS-AND MORTAR: As the New York Times notes, getting consumers to adopt a digital wallet is valuable to companies like eBay because it allows for an easy transition into bricks-and-mortar retail which accounts for around 90% of retail sales. While the value of the digital wallet is clear to e-commerce giants, the real challenge is providing consumers with a digital wallet that is a compelling substitute for cash and credit cards. (New York Times)

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says it is not going to stop businesses from accepting Bitcoin. Singapore is beginning to be seen as a challenger to Switzerland in terms of private banking. (Tech in Asia)

Flipkart, an Indian online retailer, is extending its payment technology to consumers. The service, PayZippy, will allow customers to store their payment information and use it to purchase goods and services from e-commerce sites without having to re-enter their payment information. The service is similar to Amazon's "Log in and Pay with Amazon" service. (Payments Source)

WELCOME TO PAYMENTS INSIGHTS. This is our new newsletter covering all things payments. Don't forget to sign up and get it every morning in your inbox. Please email johnh@businessinsider.com or BI Intelligence director mballve@businessinsider.com with news and tips.

Overstock.com will begin accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment early next year. "I think we'll pick up ... the market share of people who'd prefer to pay in Bitcoin," says CEO Patrick Byrne. (Los Angeles Times)

A new survey from PayPal turned up a few interesting facts on shopper behavior. Among them - 11% of respondents said they shop online while totally naked! (Business Insider)

Merchants are showing signs of interest in accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment. Bitpay, a Bitcoin payments processor, recorded 6,296 transactions on Black Friday this year compared to 99 recorded on Black Friday last year. (Payments Source)

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a study outlining the risks associated with using mobile devices to channel transactions. The study looks at what sorts of protections Canadian consumers are entitled to when they complete transactions using mobile devices. (Financial Consumer Agency of Canada)

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