The Business Payments Directory Association (BPDA) has been formed to bring to market the Business-to-Business (B2B) Directory, which is a database, or “public phone book” of business payees and payee information. It will allow payers to find the information needed to make payments to their payees electronically. Studies indicate that one of the largest barriers to increased use of electronic payments is the lack of or difficulty in acquiring the required electronic banking address to make an electronic business payment.
The B2B Directory:
- Enables payees to register their Electronic Payment Identity (EPI)
- Allows payees to specify their preferred method of payment
- Enables payers to retrieve EPIs to facilitate electronic payments
- Supports multiple payment types
- Supports related business information – e.g., remittance content and delivery preferences
- Supports retrieval of payment routing instructions
- Is scalable, trustworthy, secure
Moving from Concept to Reality
After gathering solution requirements from a cross section of industry, BPDA announced that it will be partnering with Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) and NACHA to develop a proof of concept platform for its B2B Directory built on blockchain technology. BPDA’s B2B Directory will serve as the industry’s standardized, searchable database of electronic payments information for business transactions. Our intention is to complete the POC by the end of 2018.
B2B Payments Directory Association 