The wheels of business never stop turning. In payables news this week, we see the Federal Reserve Bank gaining record profits—mostly due to its bond buybacks over the past seven years, along with business travel on the rise and SWIFT deciding to upgrade its service that allows financial teams to comply better with international sanctions. That’s just a taste of what you’ll find in Payables News Weekly this time around though … read on to see the rest.
LA Times: Federal Reserve to Send Record $98.7-Billion Profit to Treasury
The U.S. Federal Reserve notched a record $98.7 billion in profit in 2014; all of which is delivered to the U.S. Treasury. Much of the profit is attributed to the quantitative easing program that saw the Fed’s assets balloon from $900 billion to $4.5 trillion, reports The Los Angeles Times. Since 2008, when the QE program began, the Fed has brought in about $500 billion in profits—a nice silver lining for the central bank. Read the full article at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-federal-reserve-profit-20150109-story.html.
CPI Financial: SWIFT Extends Sanctions Screening to Support All Financial Transaction Formats
CPI Financial reports that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has expanded its Sanctions Screening service. The expansion now allows SWIFT customers to screen all types of financial formats—including Single European Payments Area (SEPA) and Fedwire electronic fund transfers—against more than 30 of the most important international sanctions lists. This update to the Sanctions Screening service, which started in 2012, is designed to simplify compliance with sanction lists for SWIFT’s customers. Read the full article at http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/29629/swift-extends-sanctions-screening-to-support-all-financial-transaction-formats.
USA Today: Business Travel Rebounds into Record Territory
The Global Business Travel Association is predicting that business travel spending will top $310 billion in 2015, according to USA Today, which would mark a 6.2% increase over 2014’s spend. The amount spent by U.S. companies on international trips is also expected to rise 7.9% versus 2014. The GBTA attributes much of the increase to an improved economy in the U.S. Read the full article at http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/roadwarriors/2015/01/12/business-travel-spending-hits-record/21653521/.
Finextra: MasterCard Agrees Russian Processing Deal
MasterCard has agreed to transfer all its domestic Russian transaction processing to the new national payments system President Vladimir Putin is putting into place. Under the deal, MasterCard will slowly transfer all transactions to the National System of Payment Cards—the Bank of Russia will handle settlement services. MasterCard handed over processing to avoid paying a massive security deposit; Visa is set to do the same. Read the full article at http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=26876.
PaymentWeek: Dynamics, MasterCard Unveil Security-Enhanced Interactive Payment Cards
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Dynamics and MasterCard unveiled their security-enhanced interactive payment cards. You may recall we mentioned the partnership in a previous installment of Payables News Weekly; CES saw the first official product rollout. The cards come with enhanced security features, such as unique security codes for online and in-person transactions, as well as the ability for the card to turn off when it’s not in use. Given the recent enhanced focus on card security, this is an interesting step forward. Read the full article at http://paymentweek.com/2015-1-13-dynamics-mastercard-unveil-security-enhanced-interactive-payment-cards-6425/.
Invoiceware International Continues Triple Digit Growth for the Third Straight Year
Invoiceware International grew earnings 112% from 2013, netting the solution provider a third straight year of revenue growth. Invoiceware’s focus on Latin America has paid off—expansions in Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador place the company in a solid position to continue its upward trajectory. Currently 80,000 businesses transact on Invoiceware’s business network, with $84 billion of transactions flowing through the platform in 2014.
Coupa and TrustWeaver Form Strategic Partnership for Dynamic, Globally Compliant e-Invoicing
Coupa announced its partnership with Sweden-based TrustWeaver to provide value-added tax (VAT) compliance services worldwide. This makes the TrustWeaver VAT compliance solution available to Coupa customers, and allows Coupa to offer increased worldwide compliance to the users of its eInvoicing solution.
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