Wex's European office has obtained an Electronic
Money Institution license from the Financial Conduct Authority and has become a
MasterCard principal member. This means that across the 31 European Economic
Area countries, Wex can issue MasterCard credit to customers for its virtual
cards and other business-to-business payment products, Wex commercial director
of Europe Ian Johnson said. Wex has operated in Europe since 2010, primarily
in the U.K., but within the last 18 months has entered Spain and Italy and plans
to continue to expand, Johnson said. Until now, Wex
had been partnering with different issuing bank partners in each country, which
Johnson said would have made it tedious to expand to new countries, as every
country’s regulations are different. The license provides Wex a sort of "passport,"
he said, to offer services to customers across the European Union.