Commercial card programs continue to gain momentum globally as businesses seek more efficient ways to manage spending, streamline payables, and improve financial controls across increasingly digital operations. Research from Mercator Advisory Group shows that commercial card spending across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa reached hundreds of billions of dollars in annual volume, with virtual cards and mobile B2B payments emerging as particularly fast-growing segments. As organizations pursue greater automation, data visibility, and operational efficiency, commercial cards are becoming an increasingly important component of the broader international business payments ecosystem.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s report – International Commercial Cards: Market Review and Forecast, 2018–2023
- Commercial card spend for Europe, Asia, LATM, Middle East & Africa regions reached $342 billion in 2018
- Combined spending growth was about 10% across all products in these regions
- Virtual card spend represented almost 6% of total volume
- Virtual card spend in these geographies increased roughly 30% from last year
- Combined spend expectations through 2023 are for a CAGR of 11%
- Asia-Pacific region leads in mobile B2B payments driven by massive adoption in China, Thailand, & Australia
About the report
Companies across the globe seek more efficiencies and value from card schemes through process control, analytical data access, spending discipline, and easier staff experiences. The growth outlook across all reviewed regions remains strong, but the movement into massive business-to-business (B2B) payables flows in multiple vertical industries is where larger opportunities exist.
In a new research report, International Commercial Cards: Market Review and Forecast, 2018–2023, Mercator Advisory Group reviews regional trends and card growth through 2023 for mid- to large-market segments in Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and for the first time, Middle East/Africa.
“The outlook for noncash spending remains generally robust, especially across the indicated regions. But while commercial payments is estimated to be in the range of $100 trillion (USD) combined annually in these regions, commercial card share of the payment flows is less than 1 percent,” commented Steve Murphy, Director of Mercator Advisory Group’s Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service, author of the report. “Even though growth has been steady and relatively strong, the movement into business-to-business (B2B) payables flows outside of the travel industry has been limited. Headwinds in the form of regulations remain a hurdle, as do longer-term potential threats from new payment schemes, but the general outlook for commercial cards is strong through the next five years, with opportunity available through broader penetration of the payables book.”
