Citizens and Navan Partner on Travel Management Platform

Rhode Island-based regional bank Citizens has partnered with travel and expense (T&E) technology provider Navan to offer a travel management platform to Citizens’ clients.

The travel platform includes technology that connects policy with the booking process to allow the use of dynamic policies for each transaction, and corporate cards that provide companies with another layer of policy control, useful expense data and rewards, Citizens said in a Tuesday (Sept. 10) press release.

“By pairing the use of corporate cards with the latest travel management technology, companies have more control over their expenses and can get the maximum benefit from their travel spend,” Rodrigo Sanchez, head of commercial card solutions at Citizens, said in the release.

Michael Sindicich, CEO of Navan Expense, said in the release: “The new co-branded travel and expense platform is designed specifically for Citizens, offering its commercial card customers a T&E solution with the modern experience they have come to expect.”

The new, co-branded T&E system was created exclusively for Citizens and uses an interface that is familiar to the bank’s corporate card customers, Navan said in a Tuesday blog post.

It leverages the card-link technology of Navan Connect, which was launched in June 2023, according to the post.

For Citizens commercial cardholders, the platform streamlines the management of travel bookings, expenses and payments; provides financial controls with real-time visibility and actionable insights; and reduces the administrative burden of T&E management, per the post.

“Forging strategic partnerships with a bank like Citizens allows us to combine strengths and provide travelers with a seamless, comprehensive solution,” Tim Russo, senior director of global partnerships at Navan, said in the post.

In another partnership, Navan teamed up with Rho in May to launch a unified finance suite that customers can use to manage corporate travel and expense, enforce expense policy compliance, send payments and close the books.

In October, Navan and Citi launched a new T&E system designed to provide a seamless digital experience for Citi Commercial Bank cardholders. Citi said at the time that it supports over 25,000 global commercial card programs and 7 million cardholders worldwide.