Corporate Cards Forge More Paths To SMB Adoption

All eyes are on the small business community in the commercial card world as industry players increasingly explore how card products can help Main Street recovery and stay in business.

This week’s Commercial Card Innovation Tracker looks at how the industry is driving SMB adoption, from lowering the cost of corporate card acceptance to looping business card products into Apple Pay.

Small Business Card Use On The Rise

A new survey from Mercator Advisory Group has revealed that small businesses are increasing their use of credit and debit cards, according to a recent press release. According to the report, SMBs increased their use of debit cards from 34 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2020. Use of a charge card similarly grew year over year from 23 percent to 31 percent. Anecdotally, small businesses’ credit card debt could be on the rise as more business owners turn to cards to keep their businesses afloat.

Amex Under Fed Scrutiny Over SMB Card Practices

The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and the Treasury Department have reportedly launched an inquiry into American Express Co. with regard to its sales practices related to small business credit card products, The Wall Street Journal announced recently, citing unnamed sources. Other sources said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is also looking into the matter. While representatives for the Fed, FDIC and Treasury did not respond to requests for comment, reports said they are looking into whether American Express deployed deceptive sales practices, with allegations of misrepresented reward programs. In a statement, American Express said it is “cooperating with a regulatory review of small business card sales between 2015 and 2016.”

Revolution Payments Lowers Corporate Card Cost

Card processing technology firm Revolution Payments is expanding its offering that lowers the cost of commercial card acceptance with the launch of a new solution for corporate users of Salesforce. Its Level III card processing technology, which is integrated within Salesforce, allows businesses to lower the cost of corporate card interchange fees by broadening the volume of transaction data collected with the payment. In its announcement, Revolution said its offering supports payment acceptance directly within Salesforce, with support for one-time and recurring transactions. Interchange fees remain one of the biggest barriers to corporate card adoption and acceptance among B2B suppliers today.

Virtual Cards Drive B2B Payments Consumerization

In a recent roundtable discussion with Karen Webster, Conferma Pay CEO Simon Barker and Barclays President of Payments Marc Pettican discussed the consumerization of B2B payments as organizations take best practices learned from their travel and expense (T&E) workflows into their broader B2B payment operations. Key to that consumerization, the executives said, is the adoption of the virtual card to support integrated online payment, as well as mobile payment, experiences for end users in the accounts payable department. With the rise of straight-through processing, more organizations are able to deploy virtual card solutions that not only benefit the payer, but also ease the acceptance burden for suppliers.

Chase Business Cards Land On Apple Pay

A recent post issued by The Points Guy highlighted the ability for Chase business card users to link their cards to their Apple Pay accounts. According to reports, the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, as well as the Ink Business Cash Credit Card, are now compatible with Apple Pay. The publication noted that there has not been an official announcement from Chase as to its mobile wallet support across its range of business credit card products, so it is unclear whether these products function with Android Pay and Samsung Pay.