MasterCard Certifies Interoperability With MobileXpense Expense System

MobileXpense has become the first European-based expense management system to be awarded the status of certified partner by the MasterCard payment system.

The certification means that card issuers and their corporate clients can integrate their MasterCard corporate card programs directly with MobileXpense's Web-based expense management platform. As a result, payments made through MasterCard plastic or lodge products will flow automatically into the online tool. Previously, MobileXpense was required to create separate interfaces with each individual MasterCard issuer.

"What that means for our customers is tremendous savings in time, cost and complexity on all international implementations," said MobileXpense managing partner Patrick Billiet.

Based in Brussels, MobilXpense was founded in 2000 and from the outset has been a hosted solution. Although not very well-known, its client list includes Canon, Coca-Cola, Fujifilm, Logica and Nycomed.

"MobilXpense has made good progress, hence our decision to make this a deeper relationship," MasterCard head of large market commercial products Rene Stynen told EuroBTN. "This makes it easier for corporate clients and easier for issuing banks, so it gives us a competitive advantage. It brings us much more in line with American Express and Concur, except that we want a high-quality partnership without being tied to each other."

Ironically, Concur is one of a handful of expense tool providers that also have certification from MasterCard. Others include IBM and CyberShift—formerly Necho. "We will start certifying others we feel add specific value in Europe," said Stynen. "There is a lot more expense management traffic now. We are also looking at partnerships with self-booking tools to make information flow right through to the end of the process."