The opportunity to advance in B2B payments has never been harder to spot. Trillions of dollars still move through processes built on paper checks, manual reconciliation, and disconnected workflows that digital tools have not fully replaced. Change has arrived, but slowly, and usually at the margins.
CEO of PYMNTS Karen Webster Summing up this inertia at the beginning of a dynamic conversation with Raj Seshadriwhich drives new and commercial payment flows in MasterCardnoting that analyzing space a decade ago “was a bit like watching paint dry because there wasn’t a lot of innovation.”
Seshadri did not disagree. Instead, I focused on what’s different now and why this moment seems more important than previous attempts to modernize space.
She said that what has changed is not only technology. It’s pressure. The tighter macro environment made inefficiency harder to tolerate. Float is no longer a nice to have. It is a burden on working capital. Slow settlement and fragmented cash visibility are no longer manageable annoyances. It’s an operational risk.
As Seshadri said, companies are now under pressure to “improve cash flow, working capital expenditures and investment capacity.” We are seeing an inflection point, and payments are at the center of everything. They handle purchases, payables and receivables, but they often sit across systems that don’t communicate well with each other.
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CFOs who previously treated payments as a back-office function are now taking a closer look at their payments infrastructure and the way it directly impacts liquidity and investment capacity.
Fraud is not just a technical problem
At the same time, fraud has become more persistent and sophisticated. Treating it as a technical issue misses the bigger picture, Seshadri said. Tools are important, but the fundamental challenge is trust between counterparties.
“Fraud is not a technology problem. It’s actually a business problem,” Seshadri said.
Small businesses carry a lot of these risks. They are often the most vulnerable points in the buyer/supplier network, and their vulnerabilities extend outward. A weakness in one part of the network creates exposure across the system. Protecting these endpoints isn’t just about protecting individual companies. It’s about maintaining the integrity of the broader ecosystem.
Rail convergence on rail replacement
The long-standing debate over which railway would win has largely faded. In its place is a more practical view. Different rods serve different purposes, and the real value comes from making them work together.
“It’s not replacing the railways,” Seshadri said. “It’s really about convergence and integration in railways.”
Real-time payments, account-to-account transfers, and cards solve different problems. Cards, for example, continue to play an important role as data, controls and built-in features matter alongside the movement of money. The challenge now is to connect these rails into a unified workflow so that payments, data and controls work together and not in parallel silos.
High expectations within the organization
There is also a transformation happening within organizations. Employees entering the workforce expect business tools to look like the consumer apps they use every day. Fragmented workflow and manual reconciliation are difficult to justify.
At the same time, financial sector leaders are more aware of the issue of modernization than ever before, as the link between payments and working capital results is undeniable.
The next phase of change will likely involve AI agents that help manage payment workflows. They will initiate, direct, and reconcile transactions with limited human input. Just last month, MasterCard turned this concept into reality with a timely innovation specifically targeting small businesses.
That innovation is Virtual C-Suite, an AI-powered tool designed to give small businesses access to high-level strategic guidance across key operational areas including finance, marketing and security. The system uses specialized agents who act like digital executives, but the business owner retains full decision-making authority, with the AI acting in an advisory rather than an independent role.
Stablecoins are early but real
Stablecoins are gaining interest in business-to-business payments, particularly in cross-border scenarios and in markets where currency volatility increases demand for dollar-denominated settlement. At the same time, interoperability, compliance, integration with existing banking systems and counterparty trust must mature. The potential is clear, but the infrastructure is still developing.
“It’s very exciting to see (stablecoins) growing,” she said. “At Mastercard, we do everything from direct access and checkout to enabling customers to purchase and use stablecoins. We have about 130 co-branding programs around the world – including in the small business space.”
Despite all the progress made, one challenge remains constant. Suppliers are still slow to adopt new payment methods. Buyers often see the benefits quickly. Suppliers take a more measured view, weighing costs, setup requirements, and integration complexity.
“Supplier acceptance has been a barrier, and it is a barrier,” Seshadri told Webster.
Adoption improves when value is shared. Faster payments, better settlement and reduced fraud risks should benefit suppliers as much as buyers.
Trust will decide what happens next
The technology available for B2B payments today is much more advanced than it was just a few years ago. Connecting rails, embedding controls, automating workflows, and using data intelligently are all within reach.
Seshadri pointed out that capacity alone does not lead to change. Businesses need to have confidence in the systems they rely on before they change the way they operate. “You want adoption, but without trust, you won’t get it,” Seshadri said. “Trust is critical.”
Seshadri said the industry has largely answered the technology question. The next stage will be determined by whether it can solve the problem for trust, and how quickly companies are willing to act once they do. This is a key priority for Mastercard, which has been trusted by businesses for decades to protect transactions and operate reliably — a role it plans to maintain amid big changes in the industry.
