In partnership with four lead banks and nine others,
Visa introduced a multinational corporate card program designed to provide global
consistency and data, streamlined contracts and local support, according
to Tad Fordyce, the payment company's global commercial products head. The Visa
Multinational Premium Solutions officially was launched in January by Visa and
four lead banks: ANZ, Barclays, Grupo BBVA and U.S. Bank Corporate Payment
Systems.
"More
than a handful of customers started coming on in the first quarter,"
Fordyce said, noting that the new offering was designed to replace the
11-year-old Global Commercial Payment Solution, a bank-owned joint venture that
folded at the end of 2011 as owners said it had outgrown its usefulness to
banks and corporations. Visa declined to detail the number of customers served.
The
new entity is owned by Visa which enlisted bank partners, including some former
GCPS partners, each of which issues cards in multiple countries. Australia and
New Zealand's ANZ operates in more than 32 countries. Headquartered in Spain,
Grupo BBVA is the largest financial institution in Mexico and operates in 33
countries, including markets in South America, Asia/Pacific, Europe and the United
States. London-based Barclays has an international presence across more than 50
countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. America's fifth-largest
commercial bank, Minneapolis-headquartered U.S. Bank primarily serves North
America-based companies, but has broadened corporate card issuance to Western
Europe through a wholly owned subsidiary and elsewhere through partner
relationships.
"Each
of the banks has agreed to a product standard, particularly on the data side,"
Fordyce said. "All will use our Intellilink reporting solution and provide
whatever enhanced data they capture as part of the transaction. Visa
consolidates it and delivers it through the banks to the corporate customers in
the reporting application." Visa's multilingual and multi-currency online spend
management tool provides reporting, statements, data analysis and program
support.
Each
of the 13 banks also committed to a streamlined contracting process, which
Fordyce described as the "second real benefit of the solution." The
lead bank signing a corporate customer serves as the "primary contracting
entity," and others "essentially fall in behind the lead," he
added. Depending on the markets involved and legal requirements, companies
still would need to sign contracts for services in various countries, but the
contracting is designed to be a simple as possible, Fordyce said.
The
13 participating banks cover "50 different countries with 25 different
currencies," Fordyce explained. "It is a global solution and very
much a follow-your-customer approach. As we get opportunities to serve new
multinational corporations, we'll seek assistance from other banks, as
necessary."
While
the multinational premium platform is designed to provide T&E as well as procurement
cards, thus far customers only have used it for T&E.
Visa
also continues to offer another service called the Multinational Program in
which 80 banks participate. However, unlike the new premium offering, Visa for
the program "doesn't require the same level of data provisioning or
require card issuers to adhere to mandated product requirements," Fordyce
said.