Commercial Cards Put Float Back on the Table

As digital payment infrastructure matures and economic pressures sharpen the focus on liquidity, the humble accounts payable (AP) function is being reimagined not as a cost center, but as a strategic engine for working capital optimization.

Some of the fastest-growing models are buyer-funded B2B card payments, where the buyer absorbs the transaction cost typically borne by the supplier. At first glance, the proposition can seem counterintuitive. Why would buyers voluntarily take on a cost that suppliers have historically shouldered?

But by paying suppliers via card, and extending the settlement window, buyers can effectively lengthen their days payable outstanding while preserving supplier relationships.

“Now you’ve got this weapon that you can use as a buyer to uniquely manage cash flow. You can preserve liquidity, and now you’re using credit intentionally as a working capital tool,” David Bork, senior vice president of Boost 100 at Boost Payment Solutions, told PYMNTS.

The fee becomes a lever, not a cost burden. And at the center of this transformation are the unique capabilities of an unlikely B2B tool: the commercial card.

“I’m seeing a heavy appetite amongst buyers to use cards for the exact same reasons that consumers use cards. It’s a trusted system. It allows for working capital. There can be rewards behind it, and it’s secure,” Bork said.

Turning Payments Into a Win-Win ‘Math Problem’

What is emerging from the new commercial card landscape not just a static payment mechanism but a dynamic financial instrument. In an environment where liquidity commands a premium, and treasurers are under pressure to do more with less, the willingness to rethink who pays may prove ultimately less radical than it first appears.

“When you first bring up this concept of buyer-funded payments, you get a lot of ‘that’s not how this works,’” Bork said. “But when you lay it out as a math problem and go through the economics … you get greater control over your cash, you can preserve liquidity, you’re using credit intentionally as a working capital tool and building new supplier relationships beyond those that generally accept cards.”

That “math problem” hinges on aligning incentives across all parties: the buyer, the supplier, the issuing bank and the payment network. Each must derive value for the system to function at scale.

“Clients and buyers are really trying to optimize their working capital through card constructs,” Bork said, noting that instead of incremental gains measured in days, companies can now access defined billing cycles and grace periods, effectively extending their cash runway without renegotiating supplier terms.

Advances such as proprietary interchange pricing have made it possible to reduce transaction costs to levels that are “palatable to the buyer,” while still generating value across the ecosystem, Bork added.

In one example that he cited, a company using card-based payments to process $50 million per month with a single supplier through Boost 100. The result was significant, unlocking  liquidity, which was then redeployed to capture early payment discounts from other suppliers.

Even when suppliers resist card acceptance, which remains a common friction point, new structures can allow buyers to bypass those constraints. In some cases, payments can be routed in a way that appears as standard ACH or wire transfers to the supplier, while still leveraging card-based financing behind the scenes.

“It’s a win for everybody,” Bork said.

Moving the AP Function From Float to Flexibility

What’s partially behind the growing strategic importance of B2B card use is that, in many cases, the infrastructure for businesses already exists.

“It’s a tool that many firms already have in place. They have a commercial card program through their bank, and they don’t have to do anything extra,” Bork said.

Another reason the model is gaining traction among CFOs is due to its accounting treatment. Unlike traditional debt instruments, commercial card usage is typically categorized as trade payables rather than long-term liabilities. This distinction matters. In a capital-constrained environment, the ability to access liquidity without increasing leverage can unlock new strategic options.

“It’s turning the AP function into a working capital release,” Bork said, “which is previously not something that had been done.”

The next frontier is scalability. For commercial card optimization to move from innovation to standard practice, it must operate seamlessly across supplier networks, geographies and payment types. That future is getting closer.

Two-step payment models like Boost 100XB where card transactions are processed domestically and then settled via ACH or wire are enabling new use cases, including cross-border payments without traditional network fees. This allows buyers to extend the same working capital benefits of domestic card programs to international suppliers, while maintaining a streamlined payment experience on the supplier side.

At the same time, payment providers are increasingly removing barriers that have historically slowed supplier onboarding by handling compliance requirements such as know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) on behalf of buyers.

The goal, as Bork described it, is a system that is “repeatable, scalable and secure, where there’s no friction in the transaction anymore.”