HBX Group to Launch B2B Payments Platform for Travel Industry

HBX Group is set to start rolling out a B2B payments platform designed for the travel industry.

The company, which operates a B2B travel technology marketplace and has a presence in 170 countries, said in a Tuesday (April 15) press release that it will launch the new HBX Group eWallet in Spain this month and then start expanding it to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in June.

The HBX Group eWallet operates similarly to a digital wallet for consumers but is designed for B2B payments, according to the release. It allows companies to store and manage payments and facilitates instant, cross-border transactions between companies.

Beyond payments, the B2B eWallet also offers integrated financing, invoice access and full transaction traceability, the release said.

Daniel Nordholm, chief product and new business officer at HBX Group, said in the release that the new platform is aimed at “modernizing B2B payments in the travel ecosystem” and setting “a new standard for efficiency and security in the sector.”

HBX Group developed the B2B eWallet in collaboration with FinPay, an eMoney institution that is regulated by the Bank of Spain. FinPay is responsible for the payment and financing services integrated into the platform, per the release.

“This collaboration with HBX Group leverages the full potential of financial technology applied to real-world business contexts,” FinPay CEO Juan Antonio Soriano said in the release.

While B2B payments between merchants and the end-providers of services are a fundamental part of the travel and tourism sectors, the management and execution of these payments can be very complex, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Smart Receivables Playbook: Rethinking Payments Processing After the Pandemic.”

The report found that 20% of travel and tourism businesses said B2B payouts are a very or extremely significant pain point, and another 43% said they are a somewhat significant pain point. Only 38% of these businesses said B2B payouts are slightly or not at all significant as a pain point.

Digital innovations can help these businesses reimagine their approaches to accounts receivable and accounts payable optimization and position themselves for success on the international stage, the report said.

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