The next click in commercial payments may be a tap

B2B experts at HSBC and Mastercard share how virtual cards, digital wallets and AI are transforming the way businesses move money.

Vicki Hyman

Director,

Global Communications,

Mastercard

More than a quarter of all B2B payments in North America in 2025 were still made by check, but the future of commercial payments won’t be written on paper. It will be instant, mobile, intelligent and increasingly invisible.

Commercial payments are undergoing a significant transformation as businesses seek greater efficiency, stronger controls and more flexibility in how they move money, according to Erwan Le Grand, who leads commercialization and account management in Europe at HSBC, and Marc Pettican, Mastercard’s head of Global Corporate Solutions.

In this conversation, they share their perspectives on eroding the barriers to adoption, emerging trends and how technologies such as virtual cards, digital wallets and agentic AI could reshape the future of commercial payments.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

Paper-based payments has been dropping but still make up a significant portion of commercial payments. What is the most common reason companies have not yet adopted digital payment solutions?

LeGrand: It's going to require a big change to introduce a new payment channel within that ecosystem. The change means risk, it means complexity with regards to project management and delivery, and it means cost, and these three items are top of mind of any C-level stakeholder that you would come across and talk to when it comes to introducing new digital payment capabilities.

How can the ecosystem help overcome those challenges?

Pettican: The first step is understanding where the friction points exist today, whether that's manual processes, limited visibility or a lack of control over spending. From there, organizations need to focus on the solutions that can deliver quick wins while creating a foundation for longer-term transformation. Here’s what’s key: Keeping the end-user experience at the center. Whether it's employees, suppliers or finance teams, digital transformation is most successful when it makes their day-to-day work simpler and more efficient.

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How AI is transforming commercial payments

HSBC and Mastercard leaders discuss the trends reshaping the way companies pay suppliers, manage spending and optimize cash flow.