Extend Launches API for Issuing and Managing Virtual Cards

Virtual card and spend management platform Extend has launched an application programming interface (API) that helps small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) make and manage card payments from their existing credit card accounts. 

With the new Extend API, SMBs can integrate virtual card issuance into their existing workflows and systems and streamline their operations, Extend said Tuesday (Nov. 1) in a press release. 

“SMBs have rarely had access to open APIs to issue and manage virtual cards for payments, let alone options that work with their current and preferred financial institutions,” Extend Chief Product Officer Orna Albus said in the release. 

“By using the Extend API, businesses across industries can now speed reconciliation, increase control and manage heavy transaction volume, freeing up valuable time and resources that can be put toward growth, not drudgery,” Albus said. 

With Extend API, SMBs can instantly create virtual cards for specific purposes at scale, link all card controls and transactions to their client and payment records, and set controls that eliminate overcharging and reduce fraud, according to the press release. 

The new product adds these features while allowing SMBs to retain their existing financial partners and credit lines, the release stated. 

Trina Dutta, vice president and general manager of B2B payments automation and global commercial services at American Express, which is an Extend partner, said in the release: “By integrating virtual card issuance and management directly into their systems, SMBs gain the benefits of virtual cards within existing workflows and records, simplifying commercial transactions.” 

The current target market for Extend is commercial customers, such as those needing to issue cards to employees or contractors, Extend CEO and Co-founder Andrew Jamison told PYMNTS in an interview posted in August. 

Read more: Extend on Using Virtual Cards to Simplify Business Expenses 

The company makes it possible for its customers to issue cards in seconds for purposes ranging from covering employee travel to enabling a contractor to make needed purchases, Jamison said when interviewed for the “Money Mobility Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and Ingo Money collaboration. 

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