Recognizing the growing opportunity and need to help digitize business-to-business (B2B) transactions, Mastercard announced its partnership with Eko-Pay to introduce Eko-B2B, a new best-in-class digital payment solution for businesses in Asia Pacific.
 Eko-B2B will provide businesses with an automated payment solution that enables them to streamline workflows and improve productivity for B2B payment transactions. Powered by Eko-Pay, a technology company with proprietary solutions for financial and non-financial transactions, Eko-B2B seamlessly integrates with the Mastercard inControl platform to facilitate business payments, reducing inefficiencies and improving transparency. 
 According to a study[] by global consulting firm McKinsey on commercial payment growth in Asia Pacific, 90 percent of B2B payments in the region are still conducted in cash, representing a significant opportunity to digitize the payment system.  Expansion of customer and supplier networks across markets, growth of cross-border transactions and a large informal economy of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are key reasons cited for the growth of B2B payments in the region.  
The Eko-B2B solution brings greater transparency and efficiencies to all parties in the B2B payment process.  Vendor and supplier web portals willenable round-the-clock access to current and historical payment details and dashboards that track key business performance statistics, eliminating the need for manual payment systems and their associated complications and operational inefficiencies.
 Multiple payment systems, non-electronic payment methods and supplier resistance are just some of the common pain points for businesses as they attempt to digitize their payment system across their supplier network. With the Eko-B2B solution, Eko-Pay offers the option to manage this onboarding process for the business,allowing them to experience the full benefits of a digital B2B payment solution with minimal time invested. 
 “Eko-Pay is very pleased to partner with Mastercard on this solution that bridges a critical gap in the B2B payment environment,” said Jean-Pierre Gagnon, Chief Executive Officer of Eko-Pay.  “The entire platform was designed with simplicity in mind to allow for rapid adoption through local and international business networks and provide a long tail acceptance enablement solution.”  
 Nagesh Devata, senior vice-president, Acceptance and Merchant Development, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said, “Many businesses today, regardless of size, engage with a network of suppliers and across multiple markets as they look to not just survive but thrive in a global marketplace. Yet many businesses still rely heavily on traditional, non-digital forms of payments to process business transactions, resulting in wasted time and resources unnecessarily. For businesses that have adopted digital payment solutions, they often face resistance and challenges from their supplier network and vendors in implementing these new processes. By partnering with Eko-Pay to launch a fully automated solution that allows them to experience the enhanced efficiencies and real-time cost savings of using digital payment solutions, we are looking to solve for some of these key pain points.”The Eko-B2B solution is now available in Asia Pacific, interested businesses should reach out to Mastercard or 
Eko-Pay.