2022 Business Payments Barometer

We've talked to over 1,600 businesses across Great Britain (GB) and the United States (US) and dedicated hundreds of hours deciphering the results to understand the latest business trends and priorities.

Our seventh annual Business Payments Barometer is available to download – and it’s bursting with more valuable industry insights than ever.

This year's report looks into:

• What's driving change in payments

• The effects of new regulations

• Changes in payment types

• The impacts of fraud

• Managing cash flow and liquidity

• What companies are looking to focus on in the future

What’s driving change?

Digitization has accelerated over the last couple of years. This has helped pave the way for companies to adopt new and exciting payment technologies, which have proved extremely helpful to companies and their customers during turbulent and uncertain times.

Looking beyond the obvious impacts that the pandemic had on businesses across the globe, we’ve also seen an increase in the usage of pay-as-you-go technologies and cloud and mobile adoption.

One of the more worrying trends we’re seeing is a much greater need for payment fraud prevention. Alongside digitisation, this topic dominates the spotlight in our 2022 Business Payments Barometer.

Managing cash and liquidity

With the pandemic, Brexit, and unfortunate war in Ukraine, companies worldwide have been forced to stress test their cash flow and liquidity management systems. They have come to realise the importance of having flexibility and reserves. Therefore, receiving money has never been more critical. Despite this, companies appear to be less efficient at pursuing outstanding payments.

Cash forecasting is also getting less accurate across the board. Is this because over half of businesses still use Excel to help manage cash flow? What other factors are causing this trend? Our Barometer explores this and looks at possible solutions.

Stopping fraudsters

There is no sugar-coating this issue. Payment fraud has always been prevalent - but it is increasing - specifically insider or employee fraud. Worryingly, 1 in 5 businesses is unsure whether they have even been a victim of fraud. We know that losses to fraud in both GB and the US are substantial – and the buck sits with everyone, from regulators to banks to companies, to stop it.

New ways to pay

With digitisation taking centre stage – companies have been forced to change how they make and receive payments.

The Barometer investigates which payment methods are on the decline – and which are becoming more popular.

Cross-border payments   

Following Brexit and the pandemic, we anticipated a tipping point for international payments in 2022. However, with the help of sanctions-checking, ISO 20022, and SWIFTgpi, global payments are thriving, according to this year's survey.