Amadeus first revealed plans for a virtual B2B payments wallet earlier this year, announcing the development of Amadeus B2B Wallet Prepaid. The solution offers virtual cards for corporate travelers and focuses on easing supplier acceptance of corporate payments.
On Thursday (July 7), Amadeus made a new announcement regarding the B2B virtual wallet tool. Payments technology firm Ixaris has signed on as an Amadeus partner to help develop the virtual card offering and create a roadmap to meet “the constantly evolving needs of the travel industry,” the firms said in their announcement.
“We are proud to be working with Amadeus to help develop its B2B Wallet proposition and now to extend it to countries around the world with our prepaid virtual payments technology at its core,” said Ixaris CEO Alex Mifsud. “This development is a strong endorsement of our strategy to develop B2B payments that suit specific industries and, as is the case with Amadeus, supplying the payment capability to innovative and disruptive companies.”
“Travel, and in particular online travel, is an industry with huge potential to benefit from the changes in the way we pay, receive and send money,” the executive continued.
Amadeus Head of Travel Payments Celia Pereiro, meanwhile, said that the solution with Ixaris will be just one of several payment solutions for the corporate travel space, though did not elaborate on what other solutions may be ahead.
Pereiro added that the virtual prepaid wallet tool was developed in response to rising demand.
“Our travel agent customers have been requesting prepaid virtual payments for some time,” she said. “With this development, we can now offer the ultimate flexible, global solution.”
Ixaris’ collaboration with Amadeus follows last April’s funding round of $6 million to fuel the launch of Ixaris Technologies, a separate spinoff of the firm to focus on B2B payments.
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