BNP Paribas and the start-up Libeo announced on Tuesday a partnership to enable the bank’s corporate clients to benefit from Libeo’s services for the management of their electronic invoices.
SMEs and ETIs are primarily concerned. The aim is to be able to receive, manage and pay electronic invoices within a centralized platform. BNP Paribas Instant Payment API is also added in Libeo to facilitate payments.
“This partnership allows BNP Paribas Corporate customers to benefit from both a leading banking offer in Europe, coupled with one of the most efficient and innovative electronic invoice management solutions on the French market. Together, we are joining forces to enable business leaders to remain efficient and competitive in their activities”, emphasizes Marc Espagnon, Head of Payments and Cash Management at BNP Paribas.
National regulations in sight
This partnership is part of the upcoming regulations aimed at moving towards electronic invoicing from 2024. All types of companies will gradually fall within the scope of the law. Note that from 1er July 2024, all companies established in France will have to accept electronic invoices. As for the mandatory issuance of electronic invoices, it will take place gradually between 2024 and 2026.
This regulation is timely for Libeo, which started its activity in 2019 around invoice management. The start-up targets SMEs and accounting firms, and is now expanding its activity in France, certain European markets and the United Kingdom.
Electronic invoices, which must adopt a very specific format (Factur-X), will pass through a partner dematerialization platform (DPD) used by both the sender and the recipient. These platforms must be accredited by the tax administration. Libeo is currently working on its side on such a platform, the management team told ZDNet.
Switching to electronic invoicing has a few advantages. It makes it possible to “reduce outstanding payments and reduce the administrative burden”, by encouraging “interconnectivity”, comments Pierre Dutaret, CEO of Libeo. By centralizing invoices and collection from customers on the platform, SMEs can thus “automate the payment and collection cycle”, suggests Pierre-Antoine Glandier, partner at Libeo in charge of the product, at ZDNet. For now, the tricolor start-up claims 300,000 companies connected to its platform.