Four trends that will transform B2B payments in 2026

B2B payment infrastructure is evolving to become faster and more intelligent. This shift currently sees large corporates, as well as small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), increasingly using commercial cards – including purchase cards (Pcards), virtual cards, and lodged cards – supported by automation (Straight-Through Processing, or STP) to enable:

• Built-in working capital (extending lines of credit and supporting more flexible cash flow management)
• Data-rich transactions (providing Level 3 data for reconciliation and enabling lower interchange)
• Automation-ready infrastructure (enabling faster, API-driven settlement)
• Compliance and transparency benefits (facilitating audits, tokenisation and stronger security)

Four trends that will transform B2B payments

But what else is transforming how businesses make and take payments? Here are four key trends we expect to grow significantly in 2026 and beyond – according to Pat Bermingham, CEO, Adflex.

The Consumerisation of B2B

B2B buyers are tired of clunky, one-size-fits-all payment offers. Today’s purchasing decision-makers are digital-native professionals who expect the same user experience (choice, ease, speed and convenience) in both B2B and B2C.

Suppliers in 2026 must therefore enable buyers to choose the payment method that suits their needs, such as virtual cards, instant payments, Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs), PayPal-style wallets, or account-to-account (A2A) transfers. Regardless of method, the goal is the same: create a seamless payment journey tailored to each customer.

B2B payment systems in 2026 must be capable of operating on flexible terms that can adapt to different criteria, such as sector, size, relationship history, or geography.

As payment data delivers ever-richer insight, suppliers using real-time reporting can significantly enhance their knowledge of each buyer, while speeding up reconciliation and tax compliance.

Those who use this data and knowledge to their advantage will turn payment personalisation into higher conversion and stronger long-term partnerships.

Digital IDs will reshape payment approvals

Digital IDs will roll out across the European Union (EU) in 2026, while the UK has announced plans to launch its own version by 2028. Moving forward, expect to see identity and payment inextricably linked; ID will become central to trusted verification and seamless authentication, easing compliance and reducing fraud.

Digital ID will enable suppliers to instantly validate that a real person, from a real company, has the authority to approve or release funds, significantly speeding up authorisation cycles.

A significant benefit will be security: it’s much harder to steal, forge or alter digital IDs compared to existing authentication tools like passports or online banking credentials. It’s also much easier to integrate digital IDs within payment platforms, creating an efficient, user friendly way to authenticate quickly and transact securely.

As adoption grows beyond 2026, more models will emerge and evolve based on who authenticates, whether it be the device maker, the payment provider, or the business itself. We may also see Legal Identifiers (LEIs) used more widely to accelerate Know Your Customer (KYC) and onboarding.

ISO 20022 will quietly transform business cashflow

ISO 20022 became mandatory for most cross-border and high-value payments in November 2025. The open standard underpins real-time, international payment systems, supporting smoother integrations between domestic and cross-border payment rails.

By mandating richer and more structured data fields, ISO 20022 enables invoices, purchase orders and remittance information to travel seamlessly, in a common financial language. For businesses – specifically those with global operations – this means faster settlement, fewer disputes, and more predictable cash flow.

Enhanced standardisation also opens the floodgates for more automation opportunities that could completely change the makeup of the B2B payments landscape. Think straight-through processing (STP) but on steroids.

Agentic AI will act as an auctioneer

Has there ever been a more hyped technology than AI? The explosion of generative tools like ChatGPT, swiftly followed by seemingly every business rebranding as an AI expert overnight, has inevitably raised questions of a bubble ripe for bursting. Don’t be fooled: it’s here to stay.

Agentic commerce is being pursued relentlessly by tech giants, payment providers and e-commerce platforms alike. For consumers, it could mean a whole new interface for online shopping, but B2B will extract more value by using it in the back end, saving significant time and investment in optimum payment infrastructure.

In B2B, AI has the potential to enable ‘auctions’ running at high speed (we’re talking milliseconds), where acquirers compete to process the transaction. It will operate in a way familiar to digital advertisers, where advertising space is auctioned in real-time and businesses effectively bid for placements targeted to specific audiences.

An AI system trained to auction a B2B payment transaction the moment it’s initiated, with multiple acquirers competing to manage the transaction, could be ‘won’ by enabling lower interchange, faster speed, or more advanced fraud checks, for example.

Though aggregators running the auctions would need to underwrite some of the associated risk, this model would create a dynamic, highly competitive B2B payment environment for years to come.