Lloyds cuts small business payment admin with new in-app invoicing tool, powered by BankiFi

Lloyds is launching Get Paid, a new invoicing and payment collection tool designed to help business banking customers spend less time on admin and more time running their business. Get Paid will help support businesses with their payments admin, all within the Lloyds app and online banking, at no additional cost and without the need to purchase separate invoicing or accountancy software, powered through Lloyds’ strategic partnership with BankiFi.

BankiFi has already supported the launch of Lloyds’ Making Tax Digital for Income Tax functionality within the Lloyds Business Current Account, earlier this year. It is now further helping business customers to manage more of their financial admin all within the Lloyds app and online banking tools.

‘Get Paid’, due to launch later this year, will allow Lloyds business customers to create and send invoices, issue secure payment links and track paid and outstanding requests through the Lloyds app and online banking. Customers can send invoices and use automated reminders to reduce the time spent following up payments from their customers.

By bringing invoicing, payment requests and payment tracking together at no additional cost, businesses can manage more of their day-to-day finances in one place, with less need to move between separate systems and records.

The approach, which Lloyds terms embedded accounting, allows businesses to access more tools beyond simple banking products without needing to use additional software.  

For BankiFi, this expanded partnership demonstrates the scale at which its technology can enable banks, like Lloyds, to offer their customers more than traditional banking products, and embed wider financial workflows directly into the banking experience.

Late payments remain a significant challenge for smaller businesses. UK Government research found that 49% of small businesses said their business customers typically take longer to pay than the agreed terms. The Office of the Small Business Commissioner estimates that 14,000 businesses close each year because of late payments and UK businesses are owed around £26 billion in overdue payments at any given time, an average of £17,000 per business.

Ruchir Rodrigues, BCB Client Strategy & Commercial Director at Lloyds said:

“Businesses shouldn’t have to pay extra for the tools they need to get paid. By building invoicing and payment collection directly into the Lloyds banking experience at no additional cost, we’re making it easier for customers to manage cashflow and spend more time growing their business.”

Mark Hartley, CEO at BankiFi said: “Our partnership with Lloyds demonstrates how banks can use embedded capabilities to become a more central part of how businesses operate, while giving customers the connected experience they increasingly expect. Invoicing, getting paid and tax administration may not traditionally have been considered banking services, but they are fundamental financial workflows for businesses. By bringing these capabilities into the banking experience, banks can move beyond individual products and become more relevant to the way businesses operate.”