Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has introduced a new solution, which enables firms with frequent payments to consumers to offer their beneficiaries with the option to choose how they “want to be paid.”
Called Recipient Select, the solution from Bank of America aims to address complexities that firms “grapple with related to the growth of business-to-consumer payments, including the proliferation of consumer payment options and increasing expectations for faster and streamlined user experiences.”
“Technology has brought tremendous diversity in payments, particularly in our personal lives where our expectations for speed and convenience grow every day,” stated Derrick Walton, Head of Emerging Payments in Global Transaction Services (GTS) at Bank of America.
Walton added:
“Our corporate clients are facing pressure to address their beneficiaries’ payment preferences and with Recipient Select, we’re arming them with a tool that can perform that function and give them a competitive edge.”
Launched in October 2021, Recipient Select is “a digital portal experience for both domestic U.S. and global payouts to more than 140 countries.” The solution is “optimal for companies which make a high volume of payments to consumers” and want to:
- Offer their customers a more seamless experience,
- Avoid collecting and storing customer payment information, and
- Reduce errors and returns through upfront validation of customer data.
“Bank of America processes trillions of dollars in payments every day. We’re keenly aware of the vital role that the payment experience has on building trust and goodwill between counterparties,” noted Fernando Iraola, Co-head of Global Corporate Sales GTS and head of GTS Latin America in GTS at Bank of America.
Iraola added:
“Recipient Select is a powerful tool for companies looking to deepen their relationships with customers.”
Recipient Select supports six payment methods for payments to US clients, which includes options like Zelle, PayPal, ACH, and Check.
For payments to consumers based outside of the United States, recipients can “choose to receive their funds via PayPal, cross-currency ACH or cross-border wire.” Future enhancements will include “the addition of new payout methods,” the update confirmed.
As mentioned in the update, Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions globally, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a complete range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.
The firm serves around 66 million consumer and small business clients with “approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, approximately 17,000 ATMs, and … digital banking with approximately 41 million active users, including approximately 32 million mobile users.”