I know we have said this for a long time, but it is more true now than ever.

A few threads are leading to today’s B2B Buzz on SMB lending.

1. CB Insights put out a deep dive into Amazon Payments
2. PPP Lending has been headline news lately
3. I am shifting my business focus in 2021 away from big banks to community banks.

I love community banks, they are so American and wholesome and local, they really represent everything great in financial services. They have traditionally been part of the community in which they operate. You would find your local banker…

Azlo is Gone. Is there a place for a Digital Only SMB Bank?

As the huge bank PNC bought the US assets of the huge Spanish Bank BBVA, something that struck me in the transaction was PNC decided to close Azlo. I find this surprising on two levels, one I won’t cover here but it means the acquisition of BBVA US assets by PNC was not a digital play but a branch play. OK, but still really?

I want to talk about Azlo because I used them just last year as an example of a good digital only SMB bank…

Lots of Issues, But I want to focus on Process

WOW! Citibank “accidentally” sent $900M in a series of wire transfers. There are a few things at work here including the legal implications, the software used which was Flexcube. But what I want to talk about is Process.

A couple of things to set straight, up front.

• I am a proud former Citibanker, I actually love my Alma Mater and am bummed this happened, my hope is we can use it to teach other banks some key lessons.
• The money is not gone, they just paid off something way too…

Bottomline Acquires Treasury Xpress combining functions for CFOs

I was prompted to write about the CFO tech stack today as I saw that Bottomline acquired Treasury Xpress. The CFO Tech Stack has grown quite a bit in the last year. Is an acquisition like this driven by CFOs demanding to have only one vendor (aka One Ring to Rule them All). Or is the combining of the layers of the CFO stack more like the crazy looking building in the picture.

First let’s see what is getting combined in this acquisition.

B2B Payments: “are the transactions/payments made between two companies…

Fleetcor Acquires Roger.ai Prompting this question…

Automation? As the graphic above points out it is when a system moves faster than a human doing the same activity. OK, so are Automation and AI the same thing?

No, but I do want to put forth some clear definitions so when you look at an “automation” project you clearly know if it is AI or RPA (Robotic Process Automation) or maybe machine learning, they are all different and all important but the terms get misused.

A friend from MIT once described RPA to me as a software program that pushes the buttons…

My Top 5 Viewed B2B Payments Stories from 2020 and 2 Least Viewed

Rather than write about what happened in 2020, like you don’t know a dumpster fire when you see one. No, “can you hear me” Zoom stories, no retelling of how I got rich buying Zoom stock, because I didn’t. Here are my top 5 viewed stories from my Blog B2B Buzz.

First up and by 5 times as many views any other story was my write up on Goldman Sachs:

1. B2B Payments — Goldman Sachs Enters the Arena

June 23, 2020

My favorite point of the…

Like Venmo for your Business

One of the great joys of my work is meeting startups early in their journey and then watching them succeed and grow. It is a bit like watching your favorite sports teams win, you were cheering from the sidelines but likely had nothing to do with their success. Hence my clickbait picture above of MY Ohio State Buckeyes I always enjoy them winning but never went to the Ohio State and came to them via my father being from Columbus, Ohio, he too never attended the University.

My point is you can feel a lot…

Data, Data and More Data

OK, I am guilty of using a picture of the beloved (?) Data from Star Trek as clickbait in a story about ISO 20022. Can you blame me, talking about payment standards is not the way to entice readers. Assuming you arrived here as a Payments Professional, you will be glad you clicked here I assure you.

If you are like me you likely became aware of ISO from ISO 8583 the well known-ish standard for debit and credit card transactions and their related interchange messages. I worked on a project at Citibank years back…