Bank of America is offering a supply chain module to its popular CashPro platform, giving supply chain participants the benefits of a digital global trade finance solution.

CashPro Supply Chain Solutions is designed to give supply chain organizations that require fast decisions and transparency in goods movement and payment processes. The first module, Open Account Automation, addresses invoice approval and payment.

“With global commerce operating 24/7, companies need the ability to view and act on information in as close to real-time as possible. Open Account Automation offers that transparency and the ability to self-serve,” said Jay Davenport, global co-head of Corporate Sales in GTS at Bank of America. “Buyers will now have a more complete view of when and where their goods are in the supply chain and sellers will have visibility into when and what they’ll be paid.”

Faster invoice payment

The Open Account Automation module speeds up the time to approve an invoice from what was often days or weeks to a matter of minutes, BoA said in a release.

“Trade finance is still a paper-heavy industry despite advances in technology, due in large part to the dependency on traditional manual processes,” said Geoff Brady, head of Global Trade and Supply Chain Finance in Global Transaction Services (GTS) at Bank of America. “Eliminating that dependency was central to the design of CashPro Supply Chain Solutions, through which we’re introducing digitization on behalf of network participants.”

The CashPro platform is used by more than 40,000 businesses to manage their treasury and trade operations, BoA said.

The banking giant said Open Account Automation “absorbs and collates data that exists within the supply chain ecosystem.” The goal, it added, is to improve the overall participant experience by delivering greater visibility, speed, and automation and allowing quicker decision-making.

Open Account Automation offers the ability to:

  • Digitally on-board suppliers who then gain access to real-time data that provides visibility into whether their invoices have been approved for payment, or if there were discrepancies that need to be resolved.
  • Extract data from document copies and include that data in the automated approval process. 
  • Match purchase orders with invoices and other logistics information. 
  • Let buyers control the approval of invoices based on information presented by their suppliers, their logistics providers, and their own warehouse receipting process. Buyers can set automated rules for approval, including allowing them to automate discrepancy resolution.  
  • Automatically disburse payment to a supplier once an invoice is approved and matures. 

BoA said a future update will enable suppliers to select invoices for early payment.

The Bank of America CashPro Trade platform is designed to facilitate easier cross-border trade, the company said, for importers, exporters, suppliers and financial institutions.