M&A, Patent Filings, And Mobility Fuel Commercial Card Sophistication

A breakdown of the past month in commercial cards points to the growing sophistication of the payment technology. From M&A to patent filings, from global expansions to mobile integrations, commercial card players made moves these last few weeks all in the name of more advanced payments for their enterprise customers.

More Mobile On The Way

“How do you give travelers the right amount of freedom? The right amount of guidance? As well as the right set of technologies and tools to make sure they can be in policy but also get the job done without feeling like it’s a chore,” mused Richard Crum, MasterCard’s Group Head of Global T&E Products & Solutions.

The questions were raised as Crum discussed the mobility of commercial card payments for T&E to MPD CEO Karen Webster. It’s a relevant discussion, considering MasterCard’s new efforts to provide tokenization services for commercial card issuers – a move that means these cards can now integrate these business payment technologies into mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Crum added that commercial card integration into mobile wallets is the next generation of corporate travel payments. But MasterCard isn’t the first to envision this future.

American Express gave a shock several weeks ago when it revealed it would open its suite of commercial card products to Apple Pay. Soon after, the credit card giant decided to globalize its support of Apple Pay by introducing the solution to new markets, including Canada and Australia, with sights set on Singapore and Hong Kong next year. That Apple Pay reach will also apply to Amex commercial cards, the company said.

Amex may be the only major card issuer to do so right now, but this past month analysts pointed to a tidbit of information from Apple that could signal new support for the corporate credit card.

Report pointed to a recent patent filing by Apple that would allow managers to set up multiple accounts for Apple Pay, each with its own rules; analysts were quick to point out that this would be particularly useful to the enterprise crowd, considering the need for businesses to set up spend controls for their employees.

The technology was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but there’s no word yet on how and when the concept will come to life in the hands of Apple Pay users.

Q3 Reports

This past month was financial disclosure time as many companies released their third quarter reports for the year. Among them were commercial card players WEX and TSYS, both of which offered mixed results.

WEX, best known for its fleet services, missed analyst forecasts but still posted a 2 percent revenue increase from the same period in 2014. Slumping fuel prices, however, have hit WEX hard, while recent acquisitions also played a role in weaker numbers.

Soon after, PYMNTS spoke with WEX CEO Melissa Smith about the company’s takeover strategy, one that impacts the commercial card market far beyond fleet cards. While WEX’s takeover of Electronic Funds Source is a fleet-focused venture, the company also recently struck a deal to buy health care payments company Benaissance. For Smith, it’s all about a sophisticated payment solution for businesses.

“When you get more sophisticated customers, they want something that’s integrated when it comes to payments,” she said. “That means, in a B2B portfolio, that there is a heavy level of integration within their backend systems so things operate seamlessly.”

TSYS, meanwhile, saw a 45 percent profit increase in Q3 compared to Q3 2014, with results being labeled “fantastic” by the company that focused mainly on its consumer-facing services in the period. TSYS did see a few developments on the commercial card side, however, including U.S. Bank and ING partnerships.

[bctt tweet=”Heightened investment in commercial card mobility and technology could pay off”]

If Q3 numbers are any sign, commercial card issuers are not necessarily rolling in the dough. But that could be because of heightened investment in commercial card mobility and technology – which could lead to big payoffs in the long run.