Contactless cards have seen a significant increase in usage, particularly in the UK
Interestingly, in the Airplus Interna-
LEISURE MARKET LEADS It is well documented that the corporate world tends to follow technology and trends in people’s personal lives, as travellers expect the same immediacy and convenience when travelling on business as they have for leisure travel. American Express enabled Apple Pay in the UK for corporate card members in March this year, after launching in the US last summer. Both Apple and Amex emphasise security benefits. When someone uses a card with Apple Pay, the card number is not stored on the device or on Apple servers – each transaction is authorised and processed with a unique, encrypted code number. BoAML notes that contactless cards
have seen a significant increase in usage, particularly in the UK where the threshold for transactions was increased to £30 in September last year. “However, sub-£30 transactions constitute a tiny fraction of the total carried out by com- mercial cardholders and the demand for contactless commercial cards has not been apparent,” says BoAML’s Garga- gliano. “However, commercial cardhold- ers expect the same experience with both their consumer and commercial cards, so we continue to keep a close eye on spend patterns and client expectations, and review the strategy on the roll-out of contactless cards.” Airplus’s Haywood agrees the £30 limit currently restricts potential. “It means that, although they are ideal for on-the-go expenses such as a coffee or light lunch, they are not going to revolutionise the corporate sector just yet,” she says.
In association with
tional Travel Management Study 2016, when travel managers were asked if they would consider payment solutions from new players such as Apple or Google, 52 per cent said no and only 17 per cent said yes. But in answer to the same question, 47 per cent of travellers said they would consider payment solutions from new players, with just 13 per cent saying no. If suppliers can iron out the incon- sistencies inherent in using mobiles worldwide, mobile payments may be the next big thing. “I think the card will move into the wallet on a phone,” says Citi’s Salmon, who uses Concur’s app to photo- graph receipts and upload them to make expense management easier. “One huge opportunity is the connection between using a mobile phone to make payment and helping you with expenses. Wouldn’t it be great if an automatic receipt was uploaded, and all that was tied together, because I used my mobile phone?”
The Barclaycard virtual card can be
delivered on to a mobile app, allowing temporary workers to show the virtual card number on the app on arrival at their accommodation. Recognising that not all hotel chains are used to virtual cards, if asked to confirm payment physically the user can press the app to send an instant message to the hotel to verify the details.
IN BRIEF
• Growth in the use of virtual cards is in double-digit figures as providers market them more wisely and their clients understand them better.
• Virtual cards can be defined by sum, date, location, user and more to ensure correct and timely payment.
• Virtual cards are already available, in your mobile wallet.
• Customised MI and user-interfaces are already possible.
• Virtual cards gather together untidy spending, such as paying for disparate services and goods, including ancillaries bought by numerous occasional users, direct- connect expenses and spend by and on behalf of temporary workers.
VIRTUAL FUNCTIONALITY In February, Diners Club launched VCN 2.0, an extension to its virtual card’s func- tionality that allows companies and their suppliers to raise virtual card numbers at sub-account level (for example, busi- ness units) within the overall corporate account. In addition, users can customise management information (MI) through dedicated set-up questions whose answers form part of the MI on the account and statement. “In one case we have seen the extra questions used to associate budgeted costs to actuals for variance reporting,” says Adrian Steele. “Since only the account holder sees the management information, there is no risk of charges creeping to match a budget.” Other emerging uses of virtual cards include: as a purchasing card for ancillary expenses available to multiple occasional users to remove the risk of storing in- frequently used plastic cards; paying for events and attendant costs; and paying for direct booking transactions so that they have as good MI attached as booking through a travel management company (this can be integrated into the corporate’s central billing account). Application programme interface (API) technology is also making its way into the virtual card world, allowing companies to use their software to import virtual card numbers for processing or to display to the buyer in their company, who may use it to pay a supplier. This allows the organisa- tion to keep its login/logout process, look and feel. Citi is also talking to one client about using the API to display the card in an app. Barclaycard plans to expand its virtual card platform to include other payment methods, creating a one-stop shop. The security, MI and flexibility that virtual cards bring to the payment process are only part of their appeal and, as companies and their suppliers get increasingly confident about using and accepting them, virtual card payments will soon become the norm – no longer virtual reality.˜
BBT CORPORATE CARDS SUPPLEMENT 2016 17
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