Interesting news proliferated last week, but especially so in Asia in terms of the financial world. The People’s Bank of China cut interest rates to 5.6% in response to worsening home prices and falling inflation; theories abound that the central bank may try to forcibly devalue the yuan in order to spur competiveness. Meanwhile, the story of Japan’s recession continues with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolving the lower house of the Japanese parliament to set up an election on December 14; if Abe’s party wins enough seats, the renewed mandate could allow his economic program to continue.
In the accounts payable world, last week saw AvidXchange finalizing an acquisition and some new companies signing on to President Obama’s SupplierPay pledge. Check out what happened last week in the roundup below.
AvidXchange Acquires Piracle Payment Management Software Company
AvidXchange announced on November 20 that they had completed the acquisition of Piracle, a payments management software company. According to the press release announcing the finalized acquisition, AvidXchange intends to use Piracle’s software suite to offer an end-to-end accounts payable automation experience to existing and new clients. Read the full announcement at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/11/prweb12341209.htm.
Ocean Shipping Group Seeks to Fine-Tune Electronic Invoicing
Alan M. Field reports in the Journal of Commerce that the Ocean Freight Industry EIPP Standards Advisory Board is hard at work on an industry-wide electronic invoicing standard. The industry group’s goal with creating a standard is to make certain that everyone involved in ocean freight is on the proverbial same page when it comes to eInvoicing; the group also finds itself in the position of eInvoicing advocate, as shippers and receivers in some countries still don’t trust paperless invoicing. Read the full article at http://www.joc.com/maritime-news/international-freight-shipping/ocean-shipping-group-seeks-fine-tune-electronic-invoicing_20141120.html.
Finexkap, Offering Working Capital to SMBs in France, Raises $22.5M
Over at TechCrunch, we find out that Finexkap raised $22.5 million between a Series A round of $7.5 million and a further $15 million in order to ramp up its working capital product and hire personnel among other activities. Finexkap plans to focus on the French market for now, which offers immediate growth potential as more than 25% of small- and mid-sized business failures were due to a lack of short-term financing capacity. Read the full article at http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/18/finexkap-offering-working-capital-to-smbs-in-france-raises-22-5m/.
What They’re Saying: 21 New Companies Take the SupplierPay Pledge
The White House announced last week that 21 more companies have signed onto the SupplierPay pledge that’s designed to ensure small and mid-sized suppliers either receive payment faster or have better access to short-term capital. New signatories to the pledge include Siemens, Intel, and Intuit. Read the full blog post at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/11/18/what-theyre-saying-21-new-companies-take-supplierpay-pledge.
Visa Sees Visa Europe Option Now Costing More Than $10 Billion
Reuters reports that Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) may be looking at a price tag of more than $10 billion to purchase its London-based European licensee. Visa Europe is currently owned and operated by more than 3,700 European financial institutions, Reuters reports. The $10 billion price tag appears in play only if Visa Europe’s owners exercise their option to sell the firm’s operations. Read the article at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/22/us-visa-europe-option-idUSKCN0J600G20141122.
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