Bank of America Merrill Lynch is partnering with
Singapore-based United Overseas Bank to issue corporate travel and
entertainment and purchasing cards across the region beginning this month.
Under the terms of the agreement, UOB, the largest issuer of
MasterCard and Visa commercial cards in Singapore, will issue corporate cards
to Bank of America corporate customers with locations in Singapore, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Transactions will flow through
MasterCard's Global Data Repository, which then can be funneled into corporate
expense management systems and be available for data reporting across
geographies.
The banks estimate the Asia corporate card market will
experience a 17 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years.
"Commercial cards, especially in
consumer-card-saturated Singapore, will be the next wave of growth for the
credit card industry," UOB regional and Singapore head of cards and
payment products Gan Ai Im said in a statement. "We expect our regional
portfolio for commercial cards to double in the next three years with
substantial contribution to our net profit."
Bank of America said the agreement is part of its strategy
to develop a global network and that it is currently in discussion with other
banks in the Asia/Pacific region.