Symposium Insights

The state of commercial acceptance

June 2025

Commercial buyers want to pay with cards. They want to earn rewards, stretch their float by 30–60 days, and reduce friction. In short: they’re ready.

Suppliers? Not so much.

That’s the disconnect explored by panelists at the 2025 Payments & Banking Symposium session on commercial acceptance. Despite increasing buyer demand—and a clear working capital upside—many suppliers are still lagging behind.

As one speaker noted, “Issuers are ready. Suppliers? Still catching up.”

Mastercard recently analyzed commercial card adoption trends, and the findings painted a fragmented picture. Even when suppliers accept cards from one buyer, they might decline from another—creating inconsistency, confusion, and lost opportunity. “It’s not viable,” said one panelist. “We need to flip the model and be more supplier-centric.”

In this broken system, large enterprises have the power to dictate terms. But small and mid-sized businesses often don’t. They may want to pay with a card—but lack the clout or the knowledge to persuade suppliers.

Education is a critical gap. Many suppliers don’t fully grasp how faster payment and improved working capital can benefit them. As one speaker put it, “The conversation isn’t just about payments—it’s about what cash flow can empower a business to do.”

Technology could help bridge this divide. A supplier-centric model—one that enables suppliers to accept multiple payment types up front—could simplify the conversation and standardize adoption. That’s where the real opportunity lies.

“The winners in B2B,” a panelist said, “will be the ones who treat acceptance as an enablement tool, not just a cost center.”

In other words, whoever cracks supplier enablement before the buyer even asks—wins.

Thanks to these panel members:

Raghu Adiraju, Mastercard
Cindy Trautz, Texas Capital Bank
Erin Clay, Priority
Court Toomey, Priority