More than half of travel buyers consider single-use virtual
cards the top product for avoiding fraud, productivity loss and manual
reconciliation woes, according to a survey released recently by payment
provider AirPlus International.
The BTN Group, on behalf of AirPlus, surveyed 130 North
American corporate travel buyers between February 26 and March 25.
Travel buyers rated the solution superior for solving pain
points when compared with the introduction of other such tools as corporate
cards (25 percent), prepaid cards (21 percent), expense management systems (16
percent) or mobile payments (12 percent).
Banks, networks and travel management companies have offered
their own single-use solutions to capitalize on the need for efficient and
secure payment solutions. BMO announced a virtual card pilot in April,
while U.S. Bank updated its Access Online mobile app in June to allow
corporate clients to request and receive virtual cards on their smartphones. Travel
technology firm Sabre and payments provider eNett International partnered in
May to offer a prefunded virtual card, making virtual cards
available to a new segment, businesses that don’t have credit lines.
AirPlus also aims to finally bring its one-time use virtual
card product, Mobile AIDA, to the United States “this year,” an AirPlus
spokesperson told BTN in May. AirPlus
planned the move in 2013 but has had trouble attaining U.S.
licenses.