Amex Expands Virtual Travel Cards to Contractors and Guests

American Express is expanding the availability of virtual cards for businesses, as more companies use digital payments to manage expenses and reduce fraud.

The company said in a Thursday (Aug. 13) press release that U.S. corporate customers can now create, manage and use American Express Virtual Cards through its @ Work platform, which businesses use to manage their Corporate Card programs. The cards can be configured with spending limits, usage timeframes and certain country and merchant restrictions, and can be managed without moving between systems.

“Businesses want to simplify how they pay for things while maintaining control and visibility into spending across employee expenses, supplier payments and business travel,” said Eva Reda, executive vice president of global commercial services products at American Express. “Virtual cards can help solve many of these challenges.”

The expansion also reaches business travel. American Express is expanding its relationship with Conferma, a virtual payments technology provider, to let eligible Business Travel Account customers create and manage Amex Virtual Cards through Conferma’s mobile app. Travelers can use the cards for eligible purchases such as meals, retail purchases, car rentals and rideshares, complementing the Business Travel Account’s centralized billing for airfare and hotels.

The virtual cards let finance teams set rules around spending before a transaction occurs. Businesses can issue cards to employees, contractors, interns, guests and other authorized users who may not have a traditional corporate card. They can also use approval workflows, transaction data, digital receipts and reporting to reduce manual reconciliation.

The move comes as virtual cards become a control layer for corporate payments. Earlier this month, Amex shared that its commercial services spending grew 5% in the second quarter, while the company has argued that its closed-loop network gives it advantages in fraud protection and transaction data. The financial services company has been embedding spending rules, supplier verification and invoice data into B2B payments. Amex’s recent partnership with Bottomline similarly aims to improve supplier onboarding, payment visibility and invoice matching. The latest move extends that approach to corporate and travel spending, giving businesses a way to apply policy and collect transaction data at the point of payment.

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