global reach, with card services set to be available in more than 70 countries by the end of 2012.
tie-up with JP Morgan Chase, following on from a similar deal with Santander. It will see JP Morgan Chase issue AirPlus cards for the first time. Announcing the deal, Andrew Pilkington, president of global commercial card at JP Morgan, said: “AirPlus has developed a leading edge solution in helping corporations better manage their global travel spend. Together, we are delivering a compelling alternative to traditional corporate card programmes. We will offer clients a complete suite of travel and entertainment payment solutions that provide world-class technology, travel expense management expertise and local service and knowledge.” “JP Morgan’s strength and depth
of experience in the cards business is an excellent fit with our know- how in international corporate payment solutions,” says Patrick Diemer, chairman of the executive board, AirPlus. “The partnership will form the basis for continued and sustainable growth of our global market share.”
PARTNERING UP Diners Club is making further inroads into the UK market following the announcement in November of a merchant acquiring agreement with WorldPay. It will mean that Diners Club is added as a standard option
16 Buying Business Travel 2012
for payment where a merchant uses WorldPay – previously this was only available on request. Ron Kalifa, WorldPay chief executive, said of the deal: “Our expanded partnership with a renowned credit card brand such as Diners Club International reaffirms the WorldPay position as Europe’s leading payment processor. With the anticipated increase in overseas visitors expected to the UK [during the Olympics], WorldPay customers will be able
Some lodge cards haven’t evolved over the past two decades – it’s time for a shake-up
to offer a wider choice of payment options to their own customers.” Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch recently hosted a commercial card conference in San Francisco for 180 global clients. The conference looked at technology-driven changes in the sector, and the bank highlighted its own developments, including enhancements to its management software, Works, which automates card payment authorisation and reconciliation, integrating with clients’ workflow processes. Bank of America’s other big news at the conference was expansion of its
LODGE CARD DEVELOPMENTS In the lodge-card field, arguably the biggest innovation for some time has been the AirPlus Debit Account, launched last November. It combines a classic lodge account with the benefits of a debit card – most significantly the avoidance of the credit card fees increasingly imposed by European airlines. The account allows companies to allocate additional corporate data, such as cost centres, employee IDs or project codes to transactions. Yael Klein, managing director at AirPlus International, says: “We are confident that very soon other airlines which have already introduced a credit card fee, or are planning to do so, will exempt the AirPlus Debit Account customers from their surcharge”. MasterCard’s Rene Stynen
believes lodge cards are destined for a shake-up in the coming year, too. “Lodge cards haven’t evolved over the past two decades,” he says. MasterCard is looking at the integration of virtual card numbers into the lodge process, allowing central accounts to become viable across a wider range of charge types. American Express is innovating in this area, too. It has launched BTAConnect, offering advanced features to users of its Business Travel Account lodged product. Users can now add additional data fields to transactions, such as cost-centre numbers, to help with reconciliation, customised data views and easier data export to other applications. Visa is also developing its central
travel accounts – it is expanding its reach beyond travel, into wider procurement and being able to match data in the same way. In all, 2012 certainly looks as though it will be an exciting year – and not just because of the Olympics. n