Card Ecosystem Elevates Its Value Prop For Corporates

As commercial card transaction volumes climb, two of the industry’s biggest players – Visa and Mastercard – have each announced new solutions designed to enhance the payment experience for corporates. They join several FinTechs and financial service providers in exploring how the commercial card can support businesses through times of volatility, from embracing contactless payments to introducing value-added benefits for fleets.

Visa Enables Contactless Corporate Payments

In a recently unveiled partnership with Conferma Pay, payments technology firm Visa announced tap-to-pay capabilities on corporate cards. Conferma Pay is integrating Visa’s virtual card technology within the Conferma Pay mobile app, enabling businesses and their employees to embrace contactless payments via digital mobile wallets.

In a recent conversation with Karen Webster, Conferma Pay CEO Simon Barker said the capabilities integrate spend management and data reconciliation, mixed with the convenience of consumer-like contactless payments. This has particularly importance today, as fewer people are interested in touching devices and cards at the point of sale.

“There’s the desire not to be handing things over, and anything that removes interaction” is likely to be embraced by corporates and their employees, said Barker. “It’s just more appropriate than ever” to shift to contactless virtual payments, he added.

Mastercard Debuts Track Business Payment Service

After announcing plans to roll out the service, Mastercard has officially debuted its Mastercard Track Business Payment Service, which is designed to streamline B2B payments and tackle friction for both buyers and suppliers by offering payment choice, a unified portal for streamlined workflow, automated remittance and reconciliation data capture, among other features.

While the service will combine a variety of payment rails, its initial rollout in the U.S. will first utilize card payment rails. ACH will be introduced later this year, the payments technology firm said in its announcement. Mastercard is also in the midst of several pilots, including a card payments pilot with Adflex in Europe.

DBS Goes Contactless For Logistics Firms

Also embracing contactless corporate payments is DBS, which is rolling out its DBS Logistics Purchasing Card in Singapore to support contactless transactions for logistics companies.

Targeting small and medium-sized businesses, the card can be used to make payments at container depots to accelerate the transaction process for drivers and reduce the risk of virus infection, the company said.

Pilot Enhances Fleet Card Benefits

Pilot Co. is rolling out its new Axle Fuel Card, a fleet card product designed to connect fleets to competitive benefits and rewards. Perks include loyalty benefits and extended payment terms, with Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam pointing to the importance of enabling fleets to have access to credit during challenging times.

“Through the new Axle Fuel Card, we’re able to extend much-needed credit to the industry, with added rewards for fleets and professional drivers,” he said. “Our goal is to provide fleets of all sizes with a reliable credit solution that fuels their business and enables them to focus on the road ahead.”

The card product is linked to a digital portal enabling managers to view transactions, make payments, manage cards distributed to drivers and control spending.