ReportWire

Tag: Payment Expense

  • Navan to Offer Travel, Expense Tools to Citizens Clients

    Navan to Offer Travel, Expense Tools to Citizens Clients

    [ad_1]

    Navan will offer its travel and expense management tools to Citizens Financial Group corporate cardholders under the terms of a new agreement, the companies announced Tuesday.

    Navan’s Connect technology will allow Citizens’ corporate card clients integrated access to a travel and expense platform with joint branding, Navan said in a blog post. 

    “The new co-branded travel and expense platform is designed specifically for Citizens, offering its commercial card customers a T&E solution with the modern experience they have come to expect,” Navan Expense CEO Michael Sindicich said in a statement.

    Available now, Navan will bill Citizens clients for use of the platform, a spokesperson confirmed to BTN, adding that Citizens “is considering” the possibility of using the feature as a value-add at some point.

    Citizens is a U.S regional bank that operates predominantly in New England, the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic regions. 

    The partnership is the latest between Navan and a large financial services provider. Navan last year partnered with Citi to offer Citi Commercial Bank cardholders jointly branded travel and expense product using Navan Connect technology.

    It also furthers a trend of tying travel and expense features to corporate cards, a key angle that some travel suppliers are using to approach in particular the small and midsized market. Navan CEO Ariel Cohen last year told BTN that the company’s travel value proposition can attract CFOs to the notion of a well-managed program.

    [ad_2]

    cdavis@thebtngroup.com (Chris Davis)

    Source link

  • Conferma, Pliant Partner on Virtual Payments Offering

    Conferma, Pliant Partner on Virtual Payments Offering

    [ad_1]

    Virtual card provider Conferma is partnering to issue virtual cards through digital corporate card issuer Pliant’s app.

    Pliant, which was founded in 2020, lets companies issue physical and virtual cards, on which they can track spending and integrate into their finance stack, through app and API-based solutions. Enabling Conferma to generate virtual cards through the app will add more virtual access to travel management companies and online travel agents throughout Europe, enabling corporate customers to connect and pay.

    “The partnership builds on the existing investment into our platform that allows us to connect more businesses to enable commerce,” Conferma chief commercial officer Sonya Geelon said in a statement.

    Among Pliant’s offerings is Pliant Earth, which provides automatic carbon emission tracking on travel-related payments, which enables companies to offset those emissions, according to the company.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • U.S. Bank Exec Skaggs Takes Additional Role at TravelBank

    U.S. Bank Exec Skaggs Takes Additional Role at TravelBank

    [ad_1]

    Dan Skaggs

    U.S. Bank head of middle market commercial card product Dan Skaggs is adding the title of head of product for TravelBank to his plate, with plans to expand rewards offerings along with integration and reporting capabilities for the expense and travel management platform.

    Skaggs, alongside TravelBank co-founder and CEO Duke Chung, played a key role in the development of U.S. Bank and TravelBank’s Commercial Rewards product, launched last year, targeting companies with $10 million to $150 million in annual revenue. Response to the solution has been “tremendous” and “double what we thought we could do in this market,” he said.

    “We felt really confident there was a need and white space where growing midsized companies didn’t have a solution in market, and that has been confirmed over and over again,” Skaggs said. “We’re well on a trajectory to really maintain that pace for some time.”

    In the next few months, the product will expand its rewards capabilities beyond rebates to offer a points program for companies that they can redeem for gift cards, and later in a second phase, redeem for booking travel, he said. The points program also will have multipliers for spending on travel.

    Skaggs said points programs are particularly popular among midmarket companies because they do not come with the spending minimums that typically come with rebates programs.

    “There’s various research that we’ve done, and card networks have done, and when you talk to companies, about half of those companies want rebates, and the other half want points,” he said. “What we’ll empower our clients with is that they’ll be able to earn from dollar one of spend.”

    A group of clients is already piloting the points program prior to its rollout, he said.

    Besides the rewards product, TravelBank over the next six to 12 months will be working to improve virtual card capabilities and building out the depth of integrations with platforms such as accounting, HR and ERP. “We’re building out the data elements, the customization as well as the breadth, the types of providers we have,” Skaggs said.

    TravelBank in that timeframe also plans to launch enhanced reporting and insights tools, which will “deliver on increased visibility and control,” he said. “We want to set up finance leaders for success, to where they can clearly see the value of their program and where they’re going, and they can optimize their spend overall.”

    U.S. Bank’s parent company U.S. Bancorp acquired TravelBank in late 2021.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Mastercard Restructures Leadership Organization

    Mastercard Restructures Leadership Organization

    [ad_1]

    Chief commercial payments officer Raj Seshadi
    Chief AI and data officer Greg Ulrich
    Chief AI and data officer Greg Ulrich
    Chief services officer Craig Vosburg
    Chief services officer Craig Vosburg
    Chief product officer Jorn Lambert
    Chief product officer Jorn Lambert

    Mastercard is restructuring its leadership team to three
    “interdependent areas,” with commercial cards grouped with “new
    payment flows” and the development of a new data and AI organization in
    another area, the company announced.

    The commercial and new payment flows area will be led by
    newly named chief commercial payments officer Raj Seshadri and will include
    commercial cards, B-to-B accounts payables and receivables, non-carded bill
    payments, remittances and disbursements. Mastercard said payments and data
    flows beyond the consumer side is a “scalable opportunity” for the
    company.

    Seshadri has been with Mastercard for eight years and most
    recently was president of data and services.

    The new data and AI organization, led by Mastercard
    executive Greg Ulrich as chief AI and data officer, will focus on
    commercializing the technology for both internal and external applications and
    governing those functions across the entire company. That organization will
    fall under Mastercard’s services area, which also includes cyber and
    intelligence, data and services and open banking teams.

    Craig Vosburg, most recently Mastercard’s chief product
    officer, will lead that area as chief services officer.

    Jorn Lambert, a longtime executive who has been Mastercard’s
    chief digital officer since 2020, is taking the role of chief product officer
    and will lead the core payments area for Mastercard. That area includes core
    payments, products and platforms, real-time payments capabilities and
    acceptance innovation, according to Mastercard.

    The new organization “will reinforce our strategy and
    competitive advantage to drive long-term growth, diversify our revenue streams
    and differentiate our products and solutions,” Mastercard CEO Michael
    Miebach said in a statement.

    The new organizational structure will take effect on May 1,
    though the leadership changes announced with the restructuring are effective
    immediately, according to Mastercard.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Hilton Amex Business Card Ups Fee, Increases Point Accrual Rate

    Hilton Amex Business Card Ups Fee, Increases Point Accrual Rate

    [ad_1]

    Hilton and American Express are introducing a “newly refreshed” Hilton Honors American Express Business Card with a higher annual fee than its current card but accelerated points-earning capabilities, the companies announced.

    The new business card has an annual fee of $195, compared with the previously listed fee of $95, and earns more points on non-Hilton purchases than did the previous card. With the new card, members earn five times the Hilton Honors Bonus Points for the first $100,000 in purchases not made directly with a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio per calendar year, and the earning rates drops to three times the points for purchases beyond $100,000. That is a “simplified” structure compared with the previous structure, in which members earned three times the points for purchases and six times in certain merchant categories.

    Purchases at Hilton properties continue to earn 12 times the Hilton Honors points, as they did in the previous version.

    The new annual fee goes into effect on Thursday, but current card members will keep the old annual fee if their anniversary date to renew the fee comes before July 1. Regardless, all members will start getting the new benefits as of Thursday.

    The new card also adds the capability to earn up to $60 in statement credit on eligible Hilton purchases per quarter, up to $240 per year, according to Hilton and Amex. It also adds complementary Emerald Club Executive status with National Car Rental.

    As with the previous version, the new card provides users complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status, with an upgrade to Diamond after $40,000 in eligible purchases per calendar year. It also continues to provide the capability to add employee cards that allow spending limits, enable alerts and provide summary reports as well.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Amex Cards Integrate into Amex GBT Neo1 Platform

    Amex Cards Integrate into Amex GBT Neo1 Platform

    [ad_1]

    American Express has integrated into American Express Global Business Travel’s small-and-midsized-enterprise-focused Neo1 platform to provide U.S. clients a new set of features including virtual card issuance, the companies announced.

    With the integration in Neo1, a platform Amex GBT launched for the U.S. in 2021, Amex payment clients in the U.S. can enroll in the platform and add their business or corporate card accounts. Within the platform, they can manage budgets, approve payments, monitor spending via dashboards and generate and assign Amex virtual cards to specific users.

    The platform also provides access to travel content in Amex GBT’s marketplace, according to the companies.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Capital One Adds Lounge Capacity Tracking, Waitlist to Mobile App

    Capital One Adds Lounge Capacity Tracking, Waitlist to Mobile App

    [ad_1]

    Capital One has introduced capacity monitoring and a virtual
    waitlist for its airport lounge network to better manage lounge capacity, the
    company announced.

    The features enable Venture X Business and Venture X
    cardholders to see the capacity of the lounges within the Capital One mobile
    app and join a waitlist when a lounge is at capacity. Once the lounge is
    available, travelers are notified and will have 15 minutes to arrive, with the
    capability within the app to let the lounge know if they are running late or
    decided not to come. Travelers can still join the waitlist in person at the
    lounge if they prefer.

    Capital One said the features are now available to “a
    majority of eligible cardholders” and will be available to the rest over
    the coming weeks.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Itilite Adds Card Product

    Itilite Adds Card Product

    [ad_1]

    India-based travel and expense management platform Itilite has launched a card product, providing both physical and virtual cards for payment of travel spending, the company announced. The company, which in recent years has been building its U.S. presence, said it is allowing clients free issuance of unlimited cards, which also enable integration between travel, expense and payment as well as spending controls. The cards come with a 1.5 percent cashback credited to company accounts, and clients that spend at least $100,000 per month on travel receive an additional 1 percent cashback, according to Itilite.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Survey: European Cos. Exploring New Payment Methods

    Survey: European Cos. Exploring New Payment Methods

    [ad_1]

    About four in 10 European companies are exploring the introduction of new payment methods, according to an AirPlus survey of 534 purchasing managers in the region.

    The survey—which included purchasing managers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.K.—showed that 38 percent of respondents already have introduced new payment methods to their companies, and 41 percent said they are considering it. Eleven percent of respondents said they had researched new payment methods but decided not to introduce them.

    About half of respondents said they are exploring or introducing payment methods primarily targeting traveling employees, according to AirPlus.

    Risk minimization was the top priority for European businesses in their payment tools, cited by 34 percent of respondents. That was followed by simplification of the payment process for employees and optimizing payment deadlines, each cited by 25 percent of respondents.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Sertifi Grows Travel Customer Base for Hotel Payment Authorization

    Sertifi Grows Travel Customer Base for Hotel Payment Authorization

    [ad_1]

    As hotels continue to seek ways to improve the process for accepting virtual payments, agreements platform Sertifi is reporting progress via a platform it developed for card authorization.

    Sertifi first launched its authorization solution for delivery and approval of credit card and virtual card information in 2018 and reports that it has since received more than 12 million authorizations and built a base of more than 15,000 customers. More recently, it has introduced a solution allowing travel companies to send payment information directly to hotels, automating a process that still can involve fax machines and other less secure methods, Sertifi product marketing manager Amy Inouye said.

    “They don’t have to go through the process of sending a form and filling it out; they just have the payment information sent directly to a portal,” Inouye said. “This payment shows up in their portal, and they don’t have to do anything extra.”

    Authorizations can go directly into hotel property management systems.

    Sertifi also has introduced a free version of its portal for hotels, where they can receive credit and virtual card information from travel and payment companies even if they are not a paying Sertifi customer, she said. The full-service feature adds such capabilities as being able to complete and sign forms from any device and AI-powered fraud detection tools, according to Sertifi.

    AmTrav is among the travel management companies using Sertifi for card delivery information.

    “We’re always looking for options for customers to make secure, reliable hotel payments,” according to AmTrav product marketing director Elliott McNamee. “Sertifi is hugely valuable in that card numbers are securely delivered to hotels and only viewable by the necessary staff.”

    Easing the acceptance process of virtual card acceptance in particular at hotels has been an industry focus in recent years, as there are frequent stories of guests arriving and finding themselves unable to check in or forced to turn over a personal card because the front desk does not know how to process the virtual card. Grasp Technologies, for example, last year announced it had developed a new workflow with Marriott in which payment details are sent directly to the property management system.

    Inouye said Sertifi’s development roadmap “will definitely be putting a focus on the travel industry,” including what it can offer specifically to help with group travel.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • IRS Hikes 2024 Tax-Deductible Mileage Rate

    IRS Hikes 2024 Tax-Deductible Mileage Rate

    [ad_1]

    The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Thursday announced the 2024 rate used to calculate the deductible costs of operating a car, van, pickup or panel truck for business purposes would be 67 cents per mile, 1.5 cents higher than in 2023. The deductible mileage rate is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile, and applies to electric and hybrid vehicles as well as those that are gasoline-powered. Many companies use the standard rate to calculate reimbursements for employees who use personal vehicles for business.

    [ad_2]

    cdavis@thebtngroup.com (Chris Davis)

    Source link

  • Airbase Expands AI Capabilities

    Airbase Expands AI Capabilities

    [ad_1]

    Spend management platform Airbase in recent weeks announced new generative AI capabilities it says provides a “touchless expense report creation experience.”

    Airbase—which offers an AP automation platform expense management technology and a corporate product and typically focuses on companies with between 100 and 5,000 employees, according to founder and CEO Thejo Kote—already had incorporated machine-learning technology and optical character recognition technology in its products. The latest features, tapping generative AI, can extract details from a receipt and fill out the expense report for employees.

    Kote said the goal is not to claim “elimination” of the expense report, but to minimize the work around it.

    “There will always have to be some process for employers; it’s how do you simplify the experience where in the vast majority of cases, the only thing employees have to do is take a photo of the receipt, and that’s it,” he said. 

    Those AI capabilities include being able to extract expense reasons, categorizations and details for memo fields, Kote said. “When you review the expense report, you can find AI has filled out every field,” he said.

    The new features also build on Airbase’s integration with TravelPerk, announced earlier this year, according to the company. Airbase has been pointing prospective clients to TravelPerk, as its own technology does not support travel booking, Kote said.

    Airbase currently is able to support reimbursements in 46 countries and payments in 34 currencies, according to the company.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Expensify Integrates with Booking.com for Business

    Expensify Integrates with Booking.com for Business

    [ad_1]

    Expense and payment app Expensify has integrated with Booking.com for Business to automatically upload travel receipts into Expensify at the time of booking, the companies announced. With the integration, travelers will not need to manually enter data from the booking into the expense platform, as “every expense is automatically captured seamlessly, eliminating one of the biggest pain points for travelers and companies alike,” Booking.com for Business director Joshua Wood said in a statement. Expensify said the integration is the “first expense integration to bring significant benefits to business travelers” on Booking.com for Business, which is powered by Serko’s Zeno tool and in August announced a partnership with Traxo for data capture.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Emburse Puts Cards on Mastercard Network

    Emburse Puts Cards on Mastercard Network

    [ad_1]

    Emburse has partnered with Mastercard as the new payments network for Emburse Cards, which the travel and expense management provider said will add security and efficiency to its payments product.

    Among the security benefits, being on the Mastercard network will give Emburse Cards clients MasterCoverage and Mastercard ID Theft Protection to help guard against fraud and identity theft, according to Emburse. Cardholders also can access Mastercard’s HealthLock offering, which protects medical identities and data.

    The Mastercard network also will increase data capabilities of Emburse Cards, according to the company. Transaction details such as hotel and airline information from the network can be automatically populated into Emburse’s expense reporting products, which will give more detailed travel spend reporting and can in turn be used in supplier negotiations and policy strategy.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Extend Adds Virtual Card Functionality to Concur Invoice

    Extend Adds Virtual Card Functionality to Concur Invoice

    [ad_1]

    Virtual card and spend management platform Extend has made its virtual card functionality available in the Concur Invoice platform, with which customers can register for virtual card services using their current corporate or procurement card.

    By integrating Extend’s functionality, Concur Invoice can generate a virtual card linked to the registered corporate or procurement card, including a unique card number, spending limit and validity date. That can enable better controls around payments and quicker payment of vendors, according to Extend.

    BMO is the first issuing partner bank giving the option of Extend functionality in Concur Invoice to its card clients. Extend said more banks will be enabled over the coming months.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link

  • Travel Company Payments Technology Earns Top Prize at Phocuswright Conference

    Travel Company Payments Technology Earns Top Prize at Phocuswright Conference

    [ad_1]

    Payment platform ConnexPay was named Travel Innovator of the
    Year at the Phocuswright Conference’s Innovation Launch on Tuesday.

    ConnexPay enables travel companies to manage payments rather
    than turning payment processing over to travel suppliers, founder and CEO
    Robert Kaufman said. This has historically been difficult for travel companies,
    as they are considered “risky’ by banks because of future delivery risk.
    Less than 50 percent of OTAs, for example, currently process the traveler’s
    payments for the cost of bookings, he said.

    “Banks hate travel companies,” Kaufman said during
    the event. “They literally put travel in the same risk category as online
    gambling and online pornography.”

    ConnexPay sits in the middle to process the payment, run a
    fraud check, authorize the payment and make the payment to the supplier,
    according to Kaufman. The travel company can then use that payment to pay
    suppliers via generated virtual cards, leaving them with immediate access to
    any funds from the profit on those sales.

    ConnexPay plays in the corporate travel management space,
    with Toronto-based Globespan Travel Management listed among its customer
    testimonials. It has corporate use cases outside of the travel space as well,
    such as for paying insurance or warranty claims or procurement items such as
    advertising buys, according to the company.

    Previously, ConnexPay was named the startup winner at
    Phocuswright’s 2018 conference. The company last year secured at $110 million
    growth equity investment it is using to take the company global, Kaufman said.

    [ad_2]

    mbaker@thebtngroup.com (Michael B. Baker)

    Source link