Commercial Payments International Weekly News

Industry Surveys

Confidence of small business owners declines for third straight month. solutions needed for processing corporate receivables. Smartphones being used by small businesses for payments in the U.K.

Online Remittance Service Enables Cross-Border Transfers

Earthport, a provider of cross-border electronic payment services, has launched epDirect, an online interface that enables payments to be made to more than 200 countries for a flat per transaction fee, through Earthport's epClearing infrastructure.

Government Share of Closed-Loop Prepaid Market Grows

A new Mercator Advisory Group report indicates that the closed-loop prepaid market grew by 7% in 2009, totaling $205.39 billion loaded onto cards, and accounting for more than 62% of all prepaid purchases, versus the open-loop market which accounts for 38% of prepaid purchases and loads totaling $124.6 billion.

New Private Label Fleet Card Program Launched

Conoco Phillips and Wright Express, a payment processing and information management services provider to the U.S. commercial and government fleet industry, will issue fleet cards and provide related services to ConocoPhillips' motor fuels brands: Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76.

Citi Launches Commercial Cards in Turkey

Citibank has launched corporate credit cards for its corporate and commercial clients in Turkey, a growing commercial cards market.

Surveys and Reports

A new report from AirPlus shows business travel volumes increasing in the second half of 2010. Other opportunities for commercial payments growth are seen in prepaid and mobile banking.

Invoice Data Capture Technology Improves AP Processing and Carbon Footprint

A U.S. Patent has been issued to Bottomline Technologies for its image data capture technology.

Cash Management Initiatives

In these challenging economic times cash management has become even more important to organizations. New solutions to address these needs are continually being introduced, sometimes focused on geography or industries. Below are two of the latest creative approaches to assisting organizations with cash management needs.

BNP Paribas Deploys Clear2Pay Framework for Asian Payments Hub

French banking group BNP Paribas has selected technology from Clear2Pay to build a single payments management platform covering 13 countries in Asia.

Citi Launches Corporate Digital Services in Australia

US banking group Citi is rolling out a range of digital services in Australia, a market where it has been present for 25 years.

Remote Deposit Solution for Small Business Offered by U.S. Bank

Expanded Prepaid Card Services Designed for Businesses and Governments

HyperWallet, a provider of global payment solutions, is expanding its integrated global prepaid card products for businesses, governments and NGOs that need to provide unbanked or temporary beneficiaries with additional value redemption options.

Spendvision’s Expense Management Platform to Be Deployed Globally by Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto, an international mining group, will deploy Spendvision’s hosted Global Expense Management Solution across more than 10 business units in APAC, US, Canada and EMEA, enabling its 20,000+ employees to record, track and manage corporate expenses.