San Diego - Bank
of Montreal is busy preparing the Government of Canada for its scheduled April
2014 deployment date of a new travel, payment and expense program. The
government in March awarded BMO and Hogg Robinson Group the contract, which is
worth up to C$700 million (US$688 million), includes 100,000 BMO-issued MasterCards and runs through April 2022.
Speaking here with BTN
last month during the Global Business Travel Association's annual convention, BMO
vice president of North America corporate cards Steve Pedersen said winning that
bid was a "three-year odyssey," but now "everything is coming
along the way we hoped."
"The big bang is in April," Pedersen said. "From
that point on all government employees will only book travel through the HRG
tool. In the same vein, they won't be able to use American Express cards."
Meanwhile, the bank recently restructured by merging into
one department commercial payments and the treasury divisions. Uniting the units
allows the bank to "de-emphasize the product and re-emphasize the customer,"
according to Pedersen. "The treasury and the cards people are under one
organization. That means we're far more agnostic as to what product we sell."
BMO managing director and head of sales for global treasury
management Kevin Kane said he now is trying to understand how the travel
manager fits into an organization's structure and decision-making, and how they
make themselves relevant. "We want to have a complete advisory
conversation with our clients," he said.
While BMO offers ghost cards and a "full suite of
virtual capabilities," according to Pedersen, it doesn't yet offer virtual
cards. He added that there are plans to do so within the next 12 months.
"Virtual cards have a place in the industry,"
Pedersen said. "They're particularly useful for companies that have
reconciliation challenges. That's where virtual card can really enable
[clients], in reconciliation."
After investing in its web capabilities, BMO now also is
looking to "up its game" in the mobile space, according to Pedersen. However,
the bank is observing the consumer space before launching anything in the
commercial sector.
"We've been spending a lot of money and energies on our
web capabilities, because that's where we think we needed to up our game a
lot—and we have," Pedersen said. "Now is the next part of the
evolution. We'll be bringing the mobile side to the equation, but we'll
leverage very much what we're doing with the consumer business. There are
certain capabilities that people have deployed and that haven't really
resonated with customers."
For example, consumer online payment tools have "worked
really well" but some alerts—or an abundance of alerts—have "overwhelmed"
customers, he explained.
"Our consumers are definitely using [mobile] for
balance transfers, for making payments online, referencing what their balances
are ... It's the consumer taking control of their own circumstance, so they
know where they stand at all times," Pedersen said. He noted that because
there hasn't been adoption of "some of the more esoteric things," BMO
is being "a bit more purposeful in how we roll out. But so far it's been
very successful and the adoption rate [of mobile tools] has been quite high."
Kane added that there is "a lot of interest" among
corporate clients for mobile products, however there are several concerns hindering
adoption, including those related to security, the "flow of information"
and how such products will integrate with existing systems. "They're still
not sure how it fits into the commercial environment," he said.
While Pedersen and Kane said BMO is a North
American bank with a focus on the Midwestern United States, it is looking to expand
its U.S. footprint, as proven by its 2011 acquisition of M&I Bank, a
Milwaukee-based banking company. They also explained that BMO can offer global
solutions through its Diners Club card program. "Being part of the
franchise," Pedersen explained, "means that when we have customers
that have needs in other countries, a number of them will have a franchise so
we can fulfill that need."