UK bank NatWest has partnered with payments giant Mastercard to launch a new mobile virtual card payment solution for business, Approval2Buy with Mobile Virtual Cards.
Becoming the first service in Europe to leverage the Mastercard mobile virtual card app, NatWest plans to enable companies to provide virtual cards to their employees for use worldwide. With the new solution, it aims to eliminate the need for physical cards when making corporate payments, while also offering enhanced levels of flexibility, control, and security.
Firms can instantly generate virtual cards for online use, as well as for ‘Tap and Go’ payments via digital wallets. This removes the need to wait for a physical card to arrive in the post and enables finance teams to customise spending controls by:
- Setting a budget
- Limiting how long employees can use a virtual card
- Designating where employees can use the card by specifying merchants or geographical locations
Other popular uses of mobile virtual cards include equipping temporary workers, infrequent travellers and recruits with means of payment for corporate travel, as well as ad-hoc or unexpected supplier costs that are made on the go, avoiding the need to rely on personal cards or cash to pre-pay for business purchases.
Simon Forbes, president of UK and Ireland at Mastercard, comments: “The introduction of mobile virtual cards represents a step change in the corporate payments landscape. It will simplify, speed up, and bring flexibility to what has long been a cumbersome process for many businesses and their employees. Collaborating with NatWest to bring mobile virtual card payments to their business customers marks the start of a new era for business payments – one that we are proud to be powering.”
The app will use Mastercard’s virtual card and tokenisation technology – replacing a cardholder’s sensitive data with a unique card number. This ensures that sensitive account details are not exposed, offering enhanced data security, accessible via one interface.
Offering businesses greater flexibility
Andrew Harrison, MD customer goals and journeys at NatWest, also added: “New payments technology presents new ways for businesses to progress and grow. Virtual cards are a great example. Businesses can now use virtual cards for point-of-sale transactions using mobile phones. This additional feature has generated new use cases.”
For end-users (full-time, part-time or temporary workers) the virtual card added to digital wallets will provide convenient and quick checkout options, near-instant payments and immediate access to funds for urgent needs. End-users and companies will also benefit from reduced admin time spent reporting and reconciling expenses thanks to the pre-populated expense data feature.
“We know all about the power of collaboration,” concluded Salim Secretary, head of payments schemes and partnerships at NatWest. “Whether that’s partnering with Mastercard to be the first in the region to offer this innovative virtual card product, or listening to our customers when they tell us what they need. These virtual cards will make business spending safer, faster and more convenient – wherever your employees might be.”
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