The Spanish bank BBVA released this piece on their website, which announces the launch of a Global Commercial Cards solution with issuance in eight countries across Europe and Latin America. Readers will know of the increased demand for commercial cards during the past eight months as both buyers and suppliers have struggled with work-at-home scenarios and the extra stress placed on both employees and company supply chains.
The fundamental value of commercial cards is the combined effect of faster payment and settlement for suppliers, greater control on expenses, and the working capital flexibility created through the credit facility. This fits well in any scenario but has been particularly emphasized during this period.
‘ “With Global Commercial Cards, BBVA has managed to bridge the gap between two worlds: commercial cards and expense management tools. To achieve it, it has used technology and data enabling companies to manage their employees’ expenses in a much more agile and simple way, while keeping control and end to end traceability throughout the whole process” says Sergio Ortega, head of global commercial cards solution at BBVA Enterprise Clients….The new solution tailors to the needs of all types of companies, regardless of their size —whether global, regional or local—, and expedites the workload of all stakeholders involved in the expense management process, from financial to human resources through purchasing and business trips areas providing quick and easy access to all the relevant information….The solution is in charge of centralizing all the expenses and automatically sending them to the expense management tool or ERP (enterprise resource planning system) chosen by the company.’
The focus on expense management and an improved user experience around financial operations and ease of employee processes is important not only in the current environment but as we eventually move away from lockdowns into more normal times. These experiences include integration with third party expense management tools and the companies’ ERP.
The cards will be issued in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Peru and Uruguay, with acceptance across the globe. BBVA operates in more than 30 countries so we would expect some further market expansion of the commercial card solution over the relatively near term.
“In the current context, strongly influenced by the coronavirus crisis, the way of managing corporate expenses is evolving and there is an increasing demand for digital processes which enable homogeneous global corporate expenses management. The launch of Global Commercial Cards allows BBVA to meet these needs and take a further step in its commitment to offering innovative solutions which put technology at the service of companies” explains Ortega….Thanks to the new solution, the usage of BBVA commercial cards will not only benefit employees, who will have a secure and universally accepted payment solution which circumvents the use of cash or their consumer card. It will also be a great advantage for companies, which will be able to more efficiently control how much, when and on what the employee spends their money, making the management of these payments much easier – traditionally associated with tedious and poorly optimized processes.’
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group