B2C embedded payments are a crowd favorite, but what does the B2B landscape look like in 2025?

Embedded payments are becoming a staple in the B2C world, and more businesses are also jumping on board, aiming to streamline and automate processes from payroll (automated invoicing) to procurement (trade credit). 

However, B2B transactions in embedded payments are more challenging and don’t flow as easily as B2C ones. “B2B is anything but seamless,” Daniel Artin, Head of Fintech Partnerships at Boost Payment Solutions told PYMNTS. He highlighted the importance of setting clear client expectations and guiding them through the challenges involved in digitizing larger transactions.

In my deep dive into the embedded finance landscape, I sought insights from payment experts about the opportunities for banks and fintechs in the B2B embedded payments space and the hurdles businesses face when integrating embedded payment systems. I also examined the impact of B2B embedded transactions on traditional banks and financial intermediaries, particularly regarding their role in 2025.

The opportunities in B2B embedded payments

B2B embedded payments are increasingly capturing interest as the marketplace and platform business models expand globally. This growth is driven by e-commerce heavyweights leading in sectors like marketplaces, payment intermediation, and gig economy services (ride-hailing, for instance), all experiencing double-digit growth, according to Scott Southall, Head of Banking as a Service, Citi Services. 

A case in point is Walmart, whose Marketplace sales grew by more than 40% for the fifth quarter in a row, as reported in December 2024. Microsoft’s Mason McCoy, Director of Marketplace Strategy also shared that the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace has seen billions in sales and a 100% revenue growth, according to the firm’s internal data as of October 2024.

“Embedding payments and financial services into how these companies operate provides a significant opportunity to monetize the flow further and increase the value-added,” says Southall.

For instance, clients can offer wallet services to their customers holding deposits for extended periods, generating interest, or enabling cross-selling opportunities, like advertising sales. At settlement, foreign exchange (FX) services can be integrated into the payment process, enabling businesses to capture additional commercial opportunities. 

“Banking partners can then insert themselves into the currency conversion flow, potentially providing better rates to beneficiaries — creating a win-win situation,” notes Southall.

This surge in embedded payments is driving revenue growth for both banks and fintechs. “For banks, the opportunity is twofold — serving marketplaces and platforms directly or indirectly through their fintech clients,” he says.

The problems and potential solutions?

While B2B embedded payment solutions are making progress, some hurdles remain:

1. Awareness

“The biggest barrier we’re seeing in [B2B] embedded payment adoption is awareness,” notes Todd Manning, VP of Global Commercial Services, American Express.

According to new internal research from Amex, Manning reports that 79% of business decision-makers wish they had more knowledge about embedded finance solutions, and 84% are actively looking for information.

Manning suggests businesses should explore emerging embedded payment solutions and take the lead in adopting them. While implementing new systems can be challenging for both time-strapped small businesses and complex large corporations, he emphasizes that these solutions, like virtual cards, are designed to be user-friendly.

“Once businesses begin using these tools, they quickly realize the benefits far outweigh the initial challenges of change management,” he adds.

American Express taps into its partner network and customer service business to increase awareness, with its Global Commercial Services customers, which make up over 60% of the 2023 S&P 500, and 3.9 million US small businesses customers.

“Our goal is to drive awareness and adoption of these connected experiences at scale within our customer base,” Manning explains.

In 2023, Amex introduced its Sync Commercial Partner program to integrate its payments (virtual cards) and (embedded) data solutions into business software platforms, covering both fintechs and enterprise systems. 

“With Sync, we’ve streamlined partner onboarding by 75% through dedicated tools, resources, processes, and support,” he says. “This enables our partners to deliver embedded payment solutions to their clients more efficiently than ever before.”

2. Investments

Many current opportunities are centered around new business interactions between buyers and sellers. But, “some of the barriers we are seeing are around investment allocations for 2025 spend as well as a lack of knowledge around the impacts of potentially being in the flow of funds,” says Ron Karpovich, J.P. Morgan Payments Managing Director, Head of Client Solutioning for Embedded Finance and Solutions.

Discussions of enterprises considering to offer embedded payments typically center on three main areas:

• Do they want to be in the flow of funds?
• Can they be in the flow of funds?
• If they want to stay out of the flow of funds, how do they do so?

3. The perennial B2B payment hiccups 

B2C marketplaces primarily depend on credit and debit cards, while B2B commerce leans toward bank transfers, driven by the larger scale of transactions, complex logistics, and the high costs of card acceptance. But this brings along the long-standing challenges of B2B cross-border payment limitations, too.

“Corporate businesses have tighter risk and control processes that require more oversight,” explains Southall. To the point where they are “okay with a little more friction in payment flows, provided they can control the maker-checker process.”

“Therefore, a gateway that supports both card and bank transfers is critical,” he notes.

Some of the new approaches are proving effective in tackling this challenge:

• Faster payment networks (like FedNow) are making their way to the main scene, offering near real-time, card-like experiences for B2B payments.
• Virtual IBANs are gaining popularity as a solution, allowing automated bank transfer reconciliation and streamlining order processing by offering client-specific routing numbers. “A leading US technology firm recently introduced virtual IBANs to streamline payments for their online marketplace, extending their physical retail operations,” shares Southhall.
• Fintechs and technology providers are also playing a key role by embedding services such as bill presentment and approval workflows into platforms.

These additions not only enhance the maker-checker process but also create a smoother payment experience, reducing barriers to adoption while safeguarding corporate controls.

B2B embedded payments trend: A challenge for banks and intermediaries?

As companies move toward B2B embedded payment solutions, it also raises an important question: could this shift impact the role of traditional banks and financial intermediaries in B2B transactions?

The partnership POV: According to Amex’s Manning, traditional banks and financial intermediaries are well-positioned to benefit from this trend, as embedded payments offer clients greater convenience and extended reach. 

“These partnerships are not adversarial as some may have thought a few decades ago,” he notes. “[There is] a strong trend of technology companies seeking partnerships with financial institutions.”

These collaborations enable each partner to play to their strengths: technology companies can focus on software development, while financial institutions bring regulatory expertise, payments capabilities, and data to the table. 

“For clients, the collaboration allows them to maintain relationships with trusted financial service providers and software companies while unlocking additional value from their partnership,” he says.

Consumer-embedded payments, now integrated into many popular apps, are one success story of these kinds of partnerships. With manual processes and specialized workflows making B2B payments more complicated and time-consuming, Manning believes businesses may find even greater value in using embedded payment platforms for a smoother, more connected experience.

To date, American Express has partnered with 11 software providers in areas such as spend management, travel, meetings, and events through its Sync program.

“We will continue to partner with vertical software providers that are addressing specific needs and workflows because we know the demand is there,” Manning notes. “Partnerships make us more helpful to businesses than we can be on our own.”

The bigger picture – Stronger together: Citi’s Southall is of the opinion that banks and fintechs that don’t invest in APIs and 24/7 scalable infrastructure may struggle to provide the marketplace or platform experience expected by both digital natives and businesses with evolving models.

Many sub-sectors in e-commerce are looking to adopt embedded financial services to drive additional capabilities and enable solutions like payments directly on their platform. 

“We see examples of this in marketplaces that are adding services like wallets for their sellers or bill presentment platforms that embed the payment process directly into the platform,” says Southall.

This means that credit notifications for inbound payments related to an online purchase are sent to marketplace clients via API instead of file or statement.

“Speed, cost efficiency, and transparency are becoming increasingly important to clients, and as more commerce continues to shift online, companies that don’t adapt their business model are at risk of losing market share,” he says.

Southall also notes that the investment in payment services that operate in parallel with the payment process itself is critical to ensure banks and fintechs stay in the flow of funds for clients, remain competitive, and offer a more comprehensive set of services in the process. 

“It’s not just about the actual payment; it’s about the entire payment lifecycle, from how it’s initiated [for instance, API connectivity], how we manage risk around the payment, and how we hand post transaction services and any complimentary service that’s needed to drive the [B2B embedded payments] adoption,” he says.