FinTechs Tout Corporate Cards’ Working Capital Opportunity

With corporate card products offering an opportunity for businesses to manage their working capital, service providers have explored new opportunities to promote adoption of the payment tool.

Some FinTechs are targeting small businesses directly with technology to ease card payment and acceptance capabilities. Others, meanwhile, are working with card issuers, banks and other financial service providers to roll out their own commercial and virtual card offerings. Below, PYMNTS examines the latest efforts in commercial card innovation.

EedenBull Connects Banks To Corporate Card Tech

In the rollout of its Commercial Payments-as-a-Service, EedenBull is expanding banks’ and other financial service providers’ ability to develop and manage their own commercial card programs. The Norway-based company announced last week an extension of its Q Business program that will connect financial institutions to technology that can help them manage their own commercial cards and related programs.

According to EedenBull, the offering can help financial institutions that are finding it increasingly challenging to manage their product portfolios, particularly amid the pressures of the pandemic.

JAGGAER Adds Virtual Card Support

In its latest round of enhancements for its enterprise spend management solutions, JAGGAER announced the addition of virtual card payment capabilities for accounts payable teams. The feature, coupled with new budget management and enhanced analytics tools, aims to promote accounts payable (AP) automation while connecting business payers to cash-back and other card rewards offerings. So far, JAGGAER has added support for J.P.Morgan and Discover virtual card products, but the company said in its press release that additional card issuers will be joining the solution in the future.

Adflex Touts The V-Card And The Cloud

In another initiative touting the value of the corporate virtual card, Adflex recently announced a revamp of its cloud-based payment services with a focus on enabling flexibility within global supply chains to adopt commercial cards for B2B payments.

The cloud migration effort aims to support not only buyers and suppliers, but also card issuers and merchant acquirers. In a recent conversation with PYMNTS, Adflex CEO Pat Bermingham explained that the combination of the cloud with virtual commercial card technology can be particularly valuable in providing the flexibility and and data integration capabilities these industry stakeholders need.

Buyer-initiated transaction data uploads reduce the risk of error on virtual cards, while straight through processing means suppliers can more easily accept virtual card payments and transaction data without the burden of procuring card readers or other hardware at the point of acceptance. Security is also a key benefit, while v-cards ensure that vendors can safely accept cards without the risk of insufficient funds or declines as a result of over-the-limit spending, Bermingham explained.

Plastiq Eyes Card Acceptance For SMB Cash Flow

While it had originally planned to roll out its card acceptance solution later this year, Plastiq announced an acceleration of the launch for small businesses in an effort to support their cash flows.

Card acceptance is imperative for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to allow their clients — both consumer and corporate — to pay the way they prefer, but fees can hamper small firms’ ability to support card processing. Plastiq’s new acceptance technology aims to reduce that burden by providing more affordable card payment processing.

This can support their B2B clients’ cash flow needs by enabling customers to take advantage of early payment discounts while holding onto capital longer. At the same time, Plastiq noted, small businesses can get paid more quickly, gaining access to funds to pay their own suppliers and bolster working capital.

“COVID-19 and the associated stay-at-home orders have caused a domino effect of late payments across the economy, with SMBs especially hard hit,” said Eliot Buchanan, CEO and co-founder of Plastiq, in a statement. “Responding to our customers’ feedback, we accelerated the development of Plastiq’s card acceptance product in order to reduce cash flow burdens and unblock the flow of vital services and supplies.”

Legislative Effort Eyes Cannabis Credit Cards

As U.S. lawmakers consider the next round of small business stimulus measures, a provision within House Democrats’ latest proposal would include support for legal marijuana SMBs to access banking services, including small business credit cards. According to reports, the House SAFE Banking Act is included within the overall stimulus bill proposal.

“The inclusion of the SAFE Banking Act is recognition that cannabis businesses have been classified as essential,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-founder, said last week.