Verizon Business, Mastercard Launch SMB Credit Card

Verizon Business has joined forces with Mastercard and First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) to launch a credit card designed for small business owners.

As Verizon said in a news release Wednesday (June 15), Verizon Business wireless customers with fewer than 100 lines and an online account will be eligible to apply for the Verizon Business Mastercard in the coming weeks.

Read more: Verizon Business, Mastercard Join Up To Spur Payments Innovation

The card lets approved business owners earn Verizon Business Dollars toward devices or accessories for their business, as well as 5% back on purchases from Verizon such as devices or wireless bills.

Users will also get access to various business benefits to help them widen their audiences, such as Microsoft Advertising, Zoho Social and Zoho Marketing Pal, as well as access to Mastercard’s Digital Diagnostic assessment and Digital Doors program.

These programs offer “always-on resources for small business owners to set up shop online, grow and manage their business, accept payments and keep their business protected,” the news release said.

The card is also contactless-enabled, letting cardholders immediately make purchases online, in-app, and at the point of sale after adding it to their mobile wallet.

Last year, Verizon and Microsoft announced they were working together on a range of innovations for the payments sector, such as contactless shopping and autonomous checkout technology to cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Read more: Verizon, Mastercard Use 5G To Reimagine Point Of Sale

Speaking to PYMNTS soon after the announcement, Joel Henckel, senior vice president, merchants and acceptance, North America and Femi Odunuga, senior vice president, digital future planning at Mastercard said the companies’ efforts harnessing and promoting 5G would bridge the continuum between online and physical commerce.

Henckel said that the greater data speeds and low-latency characteristics of 5G will boost the throughput of information (and payments) to reshape what the point of sale might be.

Payments, he argued, should not be thought of as something as simple as a swipe of a card that moves a transaction from point A to point B.

Odunuga added that “commerce in place — in-store, that is — will change based on the speed.” 5G, he said, can shrink the amount of time needed to “turn around” a transaction by as much as 50% to 70%.