Vipera Taps Mastercard For SMB Spend Management

Mobile financial services firm Vipera has announced the launch of SME Pay, a solution to help small businesses (SMBs) manage company spend, the company said Tuesday (March 6).

SME Pay integrates with the Mastercard Business Card, enabling business owners to set controls on employee use of the card. Vipera’s solution is mobile app-based, enabling entrepreneurs to manage employee spend from their mobile devices. The company noted SME Pay is also linked to a mobile POS device, with the platform able to view and manage income and expenditure based on the influx of transaction data.

Cards linked to SME Pay can be customized based on team member, while managers can control ATM cash withdrawal, transaction limits, online payment controls and more.

“We are delighted to be launching SME Pay in collaboration with Mastercard,” said Vipera CEO Marco Casartelli in a statement. “SME Pay will help small business owners manage their business spending and improve their cash flow. It is a safe and simple solution that will mean staff no longer have to handle cash and spending can be controlled. We look forward to rolling out this new and innovative solution.”

The companies said they will be demonstrating the solution at Finovate Europe, held in London.

Spend management is among the largest challenges for small business owners, according to research. Center, a spend management firm, released a report last year which found that entrepreneurs struggle to set flexible spending goals and lack real-time visibility into spend data and budgets. Most SMBs surveyed (88 percent) said they don’t use any kind of budgeting software, and 55 percent said they set their company budgets just once a year.

Mastercard has introduced several new solutions designed for the small and medium-sized business community in recent months. Last year, the payments company debuted the Mastercard B2B hub, an accounts payable, invoice management and payment processing solution for SMBs.