D - 100. 100 days before AirPlus goes live its first pan-European corporate cardthe 24 September next. To launch this new offering, the specialist in corporate payment solutions has chosen the Franceits second largest market after Germany. Demonstrating real expertise in this type of product, AirPlus has been offering a corporate card in Germany for almost twenty years now, as well as in the UK, Belgium and Luxembourg for over ten years, thanks to the acquisition of BCC last year. Including these countries, the corporate card will be rolled out in 19 European countries by the end of 2019. This makes it an almost unique offer The new corporate card is affiliated to the MasterCard network, covering 44 million points of sale worldwide.
In addition to this very wide acceptance, this pan-European corporate card has other strong points, starting with travel insurance and assistance coverissued by AXA, which AirPlus describes as "the best on the market". It is also designed to be highly flexible, allowing companies to choose the responsibility and the account to be debited - employee and/or company - as well as the cut-off, issue and payment dates, while offering a wide range of data flow formats for integration into management and expense claim systems. It also includes a tool for controlling and fine-tune parameters the use of the card, for example by prohibiting cash withdrawals or blocking certain types of supplier.
Why is AirPlus now distributing this classic payment method on a large scale, when the specialist was best known for its dematerialised and centralised payment solutions with its A.I.D.A. corporate card and virtual card? First and foremost, because the corporate card is the most widely used means of payment for business travel, and is still widely used by employees for small expenses such as taxis, restaurants, car parks, hotels and car hire.
By covering all expenditure in this way, AirPlus provides companies with a complete overview of their travel budget, with data from corporate cards added to that from corporate and virtual cards. However, by extending the range of products on offer, AirPlus is also responding to another need, particularly among multinationals, namely a single point of contact and a single contract for the entire payment process. And that's one of the reasons for this launch. Until now, AirPlus has been a marketing and sales partner of BNP Paribas in France, but now the German specialist and the French bank are going their separate ways to offer the full range of solutions, from corporate cards to corporate cards.
This launch is part of a very dynamic context for AirPlus, which by the end of the year will be equipped witha state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. This will further increase its capacity to launch new products, while opening up to other innovations such as theartificial intelligence. In 2017, the German payments specialist recorded an increase in issue volume of 9 %, growth which continued in the first five months of 2018 with +7 %. The trend is much the same on the French market, with an increase in issues of +11 % in 2017, but "only" +4 % in the first few months of the year, impacted it is true by the strikes SCNF and Air France.
Dematerialised payment solutions played an active role in AirPlus' business in 2017. The A.I.D.A. virtual card recorded growth of 29 % and 6 %s for the card. AirPlus has also signed up new partners to extend the acceptance of its debit card, including MagicStay for alternative accommodation, the MICE solution from HRS meetago, the commercial vehicle rental company France Cars and the VTC company allocab. Last but not least: the pilot launch of the Dine+Go mobile payment solution for restaurants, an application that allows you to leave the comfort of your home at home. a restaurant without paying while keeping your head held high, since the bill is paid directly from the mobile phone and the amount is recorded on an expense account. Already tried and tested in Hamburg and Berlin, Dine +Go is being trialled by the Marclee restaurant in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.
