Symposium Insights

Why businesses now value predictability over delayed settlement

June 2025

Businesses are abandoning a decades-old playbook. Where they once prioritized extending payment terms and maximizing float, they're now choosing speed, predictability, and immediate liquidity.

"We are going from an era where float is king to where certainty is king," explained one panelist at the 2025 Payments & Banking Symposium session about payment rails. It's a fundamental shift that's reshaping how companies think about working capital, and what they expect from their payment infrastructure.

The reasons are both economic and operational. Businesses are running tighter operations in today's economy. They value predictability and liquidity more than the traditional benefits of delayed settlement. Cash flow certainty has become more valuable than cash flow timing.

This shift is creating leverage opportunities that many businesses haven't fully realized. "A good way to control costs is to pay fast," noted one speaker. Payment velocity isn't just about convenience; it's becoming a strategic tool for cost management and supplier relationships.

But market inertia and structural friction often prevent businesses from capitalizing on this leverage. Even when companies understand the value of faster payments, adoption remains slow. The complexity is overwhelming: over 600 payment categories and 12,000 optimization rules make it challenging for merchants to simply accept payments affordably.

The real opportunity lies in simplification. As one panelist emphasized, "99% of end users just want to collect the payment—they're not interested in the backend details." Simplicity and reliability win over innovation for innovation's sake.

Payment providers are taking note. Visa is building direct tools for cross-border and domestic transactions, focusing on expanding access and streamlining settlement. The rails being built today are designed to reduce friction across geographies and transaction types, responding to this demand for certainty over complexity.

"The Venmo user doesn't care what rail is used—they care about speed and ease," explained one speaker. This consumer mindset is now bleeding into B2B payments, where businesses increasingly expect the same seamless experience they get in their personal financial lives.

The winners in this shift will be those who recognize that businesses don't care how they get paid—they just want to be paid, with clean, actionable data attached. The future belongs to payment systems that deliver predictable outcomes, not sophisticated features. In this new era, certainty isn't just preferred—it's paramount.

Thanks to these panel members:

Eric Cohen, Merchant Advocate
Cindy Gamble O'Neill, Payvaro Technologies
Jakub Petri, Visa
Jon Prendergast, TD Enterprise Payments