Xero Introduces New Payment Features for UK Small Businesses

Xero, a prominent small business platform, has announced the introduction of two innovative payment features designed to enhance cash flow management for UK small businesses. These features include a bill payments tool that integrates Open Banking and an e-invoicing service.

Streamlining Bill Payments with Open Banking

The bill payments tool is a significant step forward, allowing businesses to handle, approve, and pay bills directly within Xero. By establishing direct bank transfers as a payment method and using Open Banking to execute batch payments from their bank accounts, businesses can streamline their accounts payable process. This integration is made possible through a partnership with financial services provider Crezco.

As a result, Xero has become the first major cloud accounting software in the UK to offer on-platform bill payments utilizing Open Banking. Jo Copestake, UK sales director at Xero, highlights the time-saving and simplification benefits of the tool, aiming to eliminate manual bank transfers and the need to fund external accounts. UK customers with banks that support Open Banking can now complete their bill payment process in Xero, with the feature set to become available on 27 November 2023.

E-invoicing Through the Peppol Network

In addition to the bill payments tool, Xero has rolled out e-invoicing capabilities in the UK. Customers can now receive electronic invoices in real-time via the Peppol network, which promises a more efficient, secure, and automated way of handling invoices, reducing reliance on paper or PDF formats and the associated manual entry.

This feature is available immediately for small businesses to register and start receiving e-invoices directly within the Xero platform.

Expanding Services and Partnerships

Xero continues to expand its offerings to its 3.95 million subscribers, which already include core accounting, payroll, workforce management, expenses, and projects. Earlier in the year, Xero and GoCardless reaffirmed their strategic partnership for an additional five years, further enhancing payment options for Xero’s small business customers by connecting online invoice payments to the GoCardless platform.

These developments reflect Xero’s commitment to providing comprehensive and convenient financial management tools for small businesses, enabling them to focus more on growth and less on administrative tasks.