WEX Introduces First Fleet Card Designed For SMEs

In the same month that WEX revealed a new partnership with General Electric’s GE Capital Transportation Finance unit to launch a new fuel card program for road fleet managers, the company has come out with yet another fleet card solution.

In reports published this week (Wednesday, June 10), WEX said it is launching a new payment fleet fuel card aimed squarely at small businesses. The WEX FlexCard, the company said, is its first SME-focused service.

“Although many businesses are enjoying lower fuel prices today, our research shows that nearly half of businesses’ operating costs are fleet related and about half of that is for fuel,” said WEX Vice President of North American Fleet Product and Marketing Peggy Watson, adding that the new FlexCard addresses the specific fleet payment needs for SMEs.

In addition to greater visibility into fleet spending, businesses will also access WEX’s data intelligence and expense control features. SME users will have the option of paying in full or in part to better manage their cash flow and spending. FlexCard also includes driver identification tracking and protection, real-time insight into spending and online services to manage the cards and facilitate e-procurement.

WEX has had a busy year so far, announcing in April that its enterprise digital payments services now span across 11 currencies in an effort to ease cross-border payment friction. The firm’s first quarter report, published last month, showed a revenue increase of 11 percent, reaching $202.3 million, beating out analysts’ forecasts for the company.

The company’s CEO Melissa Smith said at the time that there would be no slowing down for the rest of 2015. “When I think about the rest of the year, it is really about doing things that are setting the company up for accelerating growth,” she said. “We’re continuing to look for ways to invest money — both in terms of CapEx but also in terms of acquisition opportunities that will also help really fit the growth profile of the company.”