MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The U.S. Bank AP Optimizer^™ is the 2017 recipient of the Monarch Innovation Award for Most Innovative New Product. Honored by Barlow Research for value, “stickiness,” ease of use and “wow” factor, the product is the first truly digital accounting and payment solution enabling small and medium businesses to manage cash flow in near real-time.

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Barlow created the Monarch Awards in 2007 to honor innovation in the financial services industry. The awards recognize financial institutions that provide the most innovative products to business customers and risk takers who promote innovation in their organizations.

“The overall theme of this year’s slate of winners was making the complex simple, and the U.S. Bank AP Optimizer embodies that,” said John Barlow, president of Barlow Research Associates. “It makes payments easy for the customer, even when multiple payment types are required. We were equally impressed by the ‘start up mentality’ that went into the product’s development, taking it from idea to market launch in just six months.”

The AP (Accounts Payable) Optimizer, developed in partnership with cloud accounting software leader Sage and MasterCard, allows any customer of the Sage Live accounting solution to have access to the Optimizer’s comparative data. The data shows how their organization stacks up against its peers and calculates the financial benefit that can be realized by making specific changes. Joint customers of Sage Live and U.S. Bank get additional access to a Consolidated Payables tool that lets customers tell the bank which payment method to use for each vendor and when to pay. For the customer, multiple payment methods (check, virtual card, ACH and wire) are streamlined into one simple and efficient process.

“The Monarch Awards are highly respected, due to Barlow’s rigorous judging standards,” said Bradley Matthews, head of Middle Market Product & Marketing for U.S. Bank. “Clearly the reviewers recognized the AP Optimizer’s ground-breaking capability to combine practical, cost saving information with easy-to-execute action to help businesses maximize cash flow. That’s a credit to the entire development team from U.S. Bank and Sage.”

This is the second time in six months the AP Optimizer has been recognized by third-party evaluators. It was named 2016 New Product of the Year in the Business Intelligence Group’s BIG Awards for Business in November.

Find more information about Sage Live here.

About U.S. Bank (www.usbank.com)

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp (“USB”), with $422 billion in assets as of December 31, 2015, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The Company operates 3,133 banking offices in 25 states and 4,936 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions.

About Barlow Research (www.usbank.com)

Barlow Research specializes in business banking market research, working in the areas of middle market, small business and business internet banking. The company was founded in 1980 by John and Kathy Barlow to respond to a gap between what commercial bank marketing managers needed to know and the research available

©2017 U.S. Bank

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