Visa Targets $200 Trillion B2B Payments Market, Says 70% of Korean Corporate Payments Still Done by Bank Transfer

Interview with Christopher Newkirk, President of Visa Commercial and Money Movement Solutions

Only 15% of B2B transactions use cards as digital shift lags

Business expands from corporate and virtual cards to bank-to-bank payments

"Digitizing payments helps companies manage working capital more efficiently"

"Stablecoins have strong potential in cross-border payments and Visa will provide the standards"

"About 70% of business-to-business payments by South Korea’s mid-sized companies are still made by bank transfer."

Christopher Newkirk, president of Visa’s Commercial and Money Movement Solutions unit, made the remark in an interview with the Korea Economic Daily on Sept. 4. He said South Korea has one of the world’s most advanced digital economies, but traditional B2B payment practices are still weighing on efficiency. Newkirk recently visited South Korea to discuss CMS partnerships with local financial institutions.

CMS, which Visa is building into a core business, focuses on digitizing payments for governments and companies. The unit offers corporate and virtual cards, as well as B2B Connect, a payment network linking banks across countries. In 2024, Visa launched the Visa Commercial Solutions Hub, which allows financial institutions and companies to process payments through a single login. Visa estimates the global B2B payments market at $200 trillion a year.

B2B Payments Remain Stuck in Old Habits, With Card Use at Just 15%

Unlike retail consumers, who can pay easily by card, businesses often still rely on manual processes from invoice issuance to payment confirmation. Newkirk cited that practice as a barrier to digital transformation. In a survey of South Korean mid-sized companies, only 15% said they use cards for B2B payments. Another 21% cited entrenched bank-transfer practices as the reason they do not use cards.

The inefficiency grows as transaction volumes increase. Companies find it harder to track transfers and collections across multiple counterparties at a glance. Even large South Korean companies sometimes use six to 11 different systems to confirm whether they are properly receiving payments from buyers.

Digitizing payment systems also allows companies to tailor payment timing and methods to the needs of specific industries. Newkirk pointed to a Singapore construction company that worked with Visa. The company built a platform to manage construction projects and communicate with subcontractors and materials suppliers, and Visa added a payment system linking project progress to disbursements.

Once each construction stage is completed, the work is recorded digitally and suppliers are paid using payment credentials tied to Visa’s banking partners. That links project management and payments instead of requiring a separate transfer process. In agriculture, for example, products can be designed so farmers pay after harvest rather than on a monthly cycle like consumers.

AI and Stablecoins Gain Ground in Corporate Payments

Visa sees B2B payment digitization as a way to improve working-capital management. Companies can more accurately track when cash is coming in and going out. Working capital refers to the short-term funds used in day-to-day operations. If the payment process is unified, companies can manage cash more effectively. Export- and import-focused businesses can also reduce costs by avoiding multiple intermediaries.

Visa’s recent push into stablecoins is also tied to expanding its B2B payments network. In July, the company launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, or VSP. The platform allows financial institutions, fintech firms and payment service providers to issue and burn stablecoins in a single environment. It also supports OpenUSD, an open-standard stablecoin in which Visa participates.

"Stablecoins have significant potential in cross-border payments," Newkirk said. Producers, sellers and drivers may all need to be paid across several countries, and stablecoins can make that process faster and more efficient.

He also said AI can be used to automate corporate payments. B2B payments are particularly well suited to automation by agentic AI, and recurring subscription payments could be executed autonomously without human intervention. Visa will provide standards for agentic payments and stablecoins, he added.

Park Si-on, Korea Economic Daily reporter ushire908@hankyung.com