Banks have largely stayed out of small-business digital invoicing and payment acceptance. It’s time for that to change. Tech offerings encroach too heavily on traditional business financial services for banks to ignore them, and banks need to begin positioning themselves as financial hubs to compete for and retain engagement among their customers. Digital invoicing is an excellent place to start, as it helps business owners collect money faster, manage nonpaying customers, and create and deliver documents much more efficiently.

However, invoicing in the bank mobile app is not for everyone, and banks should not try to sell it or design it as such. Instead, address key segments that would find the most value from digital invoicing. Those are likely to be businesses that interact with customers regularly in person and generally are creating paper invoices and receiving check, cash, or card payments. The value proposition is clear for such businesses: simple, quick invoice creation and delivery, payment processing that is cheaper for business owners and more convenient for their customers, and real-time access to funds.

Key questions discussed in this report:

• How are businesses sending invoices today?
• How do businesses accept payments from invoiced customers?
• What is the appetite for invoicing tools in mobile banking?
• How can banks use in-app invoicing to migrate customers to digital payment acceptance?