"A financial move doesn't begin with a new credit product or a dazzling fintech app. It starts with a payment: A contractor waiting for an invoice to clear A restaurant owner sending same-day pay to a delivery driver A corporate treasurer watching how quickly suppliers get paid These seemingly minor exchanges now serve as the fulcrums driving broader financial solutions. Challenges that financial firms, particularly banks, once tackled from the top down - such as cash flow, employee retention, client engagement, and growth strategy - are increasingly being addressed with payments as the starting point."
"Take Intuit. What began as bookkeeping software is now morphing into a financial nervous system for small businesses. New data from Zelle and Bank of America shows why: in the first half of 2025, US SMBs sent and received two billion digital payments, up 19% year-over-year, while consumer-to-business transactions grew even faster, by 31%. Every one of those transactions carries a signal: when businesses pay faster, hire slower, or invest in technology, their payment flows tell the story before their balance sheets do."
Payments now function as catalysts that transform simple transactions into strategic inputs for engagement, growth, and operational decisions. Seemingly routine exchanges—like invoice clearances, same-day pay, and supplier payments—reveal cash-flow dynamics and workforce or investment behavior ahead of balance-sheet signals. Digital payment volumes among SMBs are rising rapidly, providing rich data that can predict late invoices, surface anomalies, and enable forward-looking forecasts. Firms such as Intuit are integrating payment data with AI and complementary services to create hubs that connect payroll, lending, and marketing. Payments are shifting from outcomes to engines of broader financial solutions.
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