A survey of more than 900 Chief Financial Officers and senior financial executives revealed that strong faith in the cloud prevails in this group. However, safety came up as a primary concern.

Wex, a global provider of corporate payment solutions, released the results of a third-party survey fielded to gauge views of the payments-processing ecosystem from chief financial officers and senior financial executives. The data uncovered six key trends:

  • Companies are still writing checks for business payments. Checks are the most common form of payments in both the U.S. and Asia. In Asia, checks (80 percent) and mobile payments (71 percent) also dominate.
  • Just about half (43 percent in Asia/Oceania) of surveyed businesses have already implemented an electronic payables initiative, and more than one-third (42 percent in Asia/Oceania) have one underway. Almost all (85 percent in Asia/Oceania) of those who say they have a payables initiative in the works are planning to launch it in the next six to 12 months.
  • Overwhelming majorities – 94 percent in Asia/Oceania –of those surveyed agree. From the other side of the table, suppliers across markets value security and speed of settlement, as well as cost of acceptance as the most important aspects of an accounts payable solution.
  • Appetite is strong for further innovation and disruption in payments. Most surveyed executives agree that payments providers should offer more innovative technology (81 percent at least somewhat agree) and that consumer behaviors strongly influence their business’s use of payments technology innovations (80 percent).
  • The finance/banking industry is seen as a pioneer in the payments and the new technology space. Survey respondents see finance/banking as an overwhelming favorite (54 percent) to be the first industry to successfully implement blockchain and is seen as the most innovative industry with respect to payments.
  • Large majorities of surveyed executives (over 80 percent everywhere) feel at least somewhat confident in their understanding of the function and capabilities of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

«The findings support our belief that the e-Payables industry and trend is showing no signs of deceleration, and new technologies are key to delivering faster, more secure payments and settlements,» said Jay Dearborn, President, WEX Corporate Payments.