Remote work has led to altered business and consumer habits. Commercial card transactions are on the rise.
“We see a trend that the employees of the businesses that we work with are looking for, and expecting, the same levels of convenience in their work life that they see in their personal life.”
David Legg, head of corporate products at Lloyds Bank Commercial Cards
The decentralisation effect by remote work during the pandemic has led to the growth of commercial cards. Banks are focusing on solutions that bring benefit to both buyers and suppliers.
“Issuing banks have traditionally been focused around the needs of our buyers. We are trying to address both ends of the supply chain to incentivise both parties to be able to achieve the benefits of card payments.”
David Legg, head of corporate products at Lloyds Bank Commercial Cards
There has been an increase in the usage of virtual cards and the rise is expected to continue owing to many companies choosing a remote or a hybrid work model.
“What we have seen as an issuing bank, is strong performance of B2B spread on commercial cards. The area of growth has been particularly around virtual card usage. We expect to see virtual cards continue to grow in prominence.”
David Legg, head of corporate products at Lloyds Bank Commercial Cards
According to Legg, one reason why there’s a rise in B2B card payments is that new suppliers who were introduced during remote work are being paid with these cards.
“During the pandemic, it wasn’t easy establishing some of the traditional processes of setting up fully sourced supplier relationships. It’s actually created by a rapid change in the landscape, as with virtual cards, customers can control spend with greater confidence than on a traditional plastic card; virtual cards enable more employees across the business to transact without increasing risk of out of policy spend.”
David Legg, head of corporate products at Lloyds Bank Commercial Cards
Corporates have more control with virtual cards as they have the ability to set individual transaction limits, lock the card usage locations and the number of times the virtual card can be used.
“Virtual cards gave a very easy route for our customers to enable their employees to request payment instruments. One of the key advantages of a virtual card is that you don’t have to issue an open credit line to an employee for a prolonged period of time, you’re given a fixed credit line for a fixed need. There are really quite granular levels of control that you can introduce to ensure spend into areas that you are not looking for is minimised. Virtual card solutions, for example, enable requesters to ask for a card number to be issued for a particular transaction and supplier, with pre-approval where required.”
David Legg, head of corporate products at Lloyds Bank Commercial Cards
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