Driving Corporate Card Innovation With Collaborations, Card Issuing Platforms

The corporate card can have a home in the digital wallet thanks to collaborations and technology platforms designed for card issuers.

This week’s commercial card innovation tracker finds a tie-up between a FinTech and a neo-bank to make cards available for Google Pay, as well as a Tokenization-as-a-Service offering from a card issuing platform.

Nium Teams With Aspire, Volopay

FinTech firm Nium has teamed with Southeast Asia neo-bank Aspire to enable a mobile payments feature with its cards. With the help of Nium, Aspire has announced plans to go “plastic-less” through the issuance of Visa corporate cards. The collaboration will make every Aspire card available through Google Pay.

Nium’s end-to-end issuing, processing and onboarding services allow Aspire customers to have another choice for completing their payments via Google Pay on card terminals that accept Visa. Through the collaboration, business owners can “go green” and make payments at point-of-sale (POS) devices and via the internet without a physical card.

“Making Aspire’s corporate cards available on Google Pay allows Aspire corporate card users to experience a fully digital experience,” Aspire CEO and Co-founder Andrea Baronchelli said in announcing the move. “From account opening to managing the finances, everything can be done within the Aspire app.”

And in another Nium collaboration, the company is joining forces with Volopay to provide a new and bolstered business credit card to let firms have a closer watch over expenditures.

The FinTech, which has created management software based on artificial intelligence (AI) that provides up-to-the-moment monitoring of expenses, will integrate Nium’s application programming interfaces (APIs) into a business card.

Managers can receive “real-time data insights” as they also receive “cashback on FX transactions” that offer more savings than traditional cards, according to a news release announcing the initiative.

Furthermore, the collaboration will grow the reach of Volopay’s cards, letting its corporate customers and their staffers make card payments wherever they conduct business around the globe.

Marqeta Releases Tokenization-as-a-Service Product For Card Issuers

Card-issuing platform Marqeta has announced a Tokenization-as-a-Service product to let card issuers provision cards into mobile wallets.

The offering lets non-Marqeta card programs to experience the rewards of Marqeta’s platform, tokenization knowledge and included certifications with digital wallets in addition to the card networks — all without disrupting to their current issuing-processor relationships.

The company said the offering is applicable for any card type, including those not directly issued on its platform. The system can immediately provision cards into a digital wallet.

“Marqeta’s Tokenization-as-a-Service product opens up huge new possibilities for companies who are looking to innovate quickly but don’t have access to modern technology,” Marqeta Chief Product Officer Kevin Doerr said in a statement. “The net result will be streamlined access to digital payment options and more innovative services for end users.”

PayPal, Mastercard Expand Business Debit Offering

PayPal and Mastercard are bringing the PayPal Business Debit Mastercard to more companies in Europe.

The companies are extending the debit card’s availability to Spain, Ireland, Italy, Austria and France. That expands on the card’s current market of Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

With the debit card, small companies can have instantaneous access to their PayPal funds and unlimited 0.5 percent cash back on all qualified expenditures. They can also use funds held in their PayPal accounts at over 52 million Mastercard acceptance locations throughout the world.

Moreover, the debit card doesn’t have monthly fees or foreign exchange charges, while it has a fixed ATM charge worldwide of 2 euros (approximately $2.35).

“Supporting small businesses is an indispensable part of the economic recovery,” said David Dechamps, senior vice president of digital partnerships at Mastercard Europe. “To that end, we want to make it as simple and convenient as possible for businesses to access their funds. At Mastercard we are delighted to be PayPal’s partner of choice for issuing debit cards to their business customers.”