Commercial Payments International

With Covid lockdowns still in place and business travel failing to pick up the pace, banks are looking to cover up lost revenue in the travel and expense segment by introducing virtual cards for their business clients.

Last month, UK-based Barclaycard Payments, part of Barclays Bank PLC, launched its new platform, Barclaycard Precisionpay Go which would allow businesses to issue virtual cards for its employees’ online business expenses. These cards are backed by Visa.

In another region, Visa partnered with First Abu Dhabi Bank to launch virtual card suits for businesses. In Europe, Converma Pay launched Visa-powered virtual cards last year.

According to the press release, these offerings are presented by the company as they will bring ‘convenience, choice and flexibility to remote workforces, and will give employers increased control and visibility of employee spending’.

“Now, more than ever, businesses need tools that provide an efficient, flexible and convenient way to manage their finances”, said Cathy Dargue, Client Director, UK & Ireland at Visa.

According to the Barclaycard research which is cited in the press release mentioned that 63% of the employees’ are filing their expenses and the new solution would let them save time as it replaces the system which relies on manual princesses.

These cards would allow businesses to have control over the issuing of the card for the specific purpose of employee spending, increase the visibility of business payment via which business would be able to see the spending as soon as the transaction is made an employee and capture data through which businesses would have custom business spending data and also employees can upload their receipts alongside transactions through SNAP platform.

“As the world becomes more digital, so too must payment processes. The pandemic has reinvented the way businesses operate, with remote working now the norm for millions of staff across the UK. Yet, many firms still use outdated systems that rely on paper-based reimbursement which is hugely time-consuming and often frustrating to use too.” said Marc Pettican, President, Barclaycard Payments.

Precisionpay Go supports GBP, USD and EUR currencies.