Spend Management Boosts The Commercial Card Value Prop

Card issuers and FinTechs continue to explore ways to add value to corporate card products to drive up adoption. This week’s Commercial Card Innovation Tracker finds employee spend and expense management a key focus of added functionality.

Mastercard, Emburse Team Up For Financial Institution Solutions

Mastercard and expense management and accounts payable FinTech Emburse are collaborating on a new initiative: to help banks and financial institutions that issue business card products integrate spend management features along with their offerings. An announcement this week said the partners will connect financial institutions (FIs) that issue Mastercard card products to integrate those cards with a white labeled-version of Emburse’s expense solution, allowing business end-users to not only make payments but manage and reconcile that card spend data. Purchasing information is automatically captured within the Emburse mobile app to support expense reports for processing, reconciliation and reimbursement.

Ramp Revs Up The Competition With New Funding

Commercial card FinTech startup Ramp is elevating its competitive edge against rivals like Brex with the injection of new funding said to be provided by D1 Capital Partners, Stripe, Goldman Sachs and Coatue Management. The Information reported that Ramp is nearing the closure of two funding rounds, one hitting $65 million and the second injecting an additional $50 million, for the firm. Combined, the investments now fuel Ramp’s valuation at $1.1 billion, reports said, citing two unnamed sources. With Stripe elevating its investment in the company, reports also noted that Ramp may soon migrate its business card issuing function from Marqeta to Stripe.

Columbia Bank Launches Business Card Program

New Jersey-based Columbia Bank is launching its business credit card program and has enlisted FinTech Corserv to help. The bank recently announced that it would use Corserv’s card program technology to develop Columba Bank-branded card products that include virtual cards, “ghost” cards and purchasing cards for its business customers. The card products will also be offered alongside other services and functionalities, including expense reporting, spend controls and ePayables capabilities.

Airbase Widens Spend Management Platform Functionality

Airbase, a FinTech providing businesses with spend management and corporate card solutions, is expanding the functionality of its platform through the introduction of new employee expense reimbursement capabilities. The firm said in a recent press release that the product is now integrated within its existing accounts payable automation and software-enabled corporate card offerings, designed to provide businesses a holistic solution to manage nonpayroll outgoing payments for businesses. In its announcement, Airbase said that it is also helping firms consolidated their spend operations by replacing multiple payment and card tools with a single offering.

Bank of Montreal Optimizes B2B Card Spend With Moneris

In Canada, Bank of Montreal (BMO) is teaming up with card payment processing firm Moneris to optimize its card-based B2B payment offerings. BMO will connect its corporate clients to Moneris B2B pay, which facilitates straight-through processing of card payments to help ease the burden of acceptance for suppliers. The solution pairs with existing commercial and virtual card offerings from BMO, including its Approve2Pay, which allows businesses to initiate spend via virtual card, while for vendors, funds are automatically deposited into their accounts.