Business travellers will have to wait a little longer before they can start using contactless or smartphone payments, which are taking their first steps in everyday life. For the time being, Citi is the only banking network in France to distribute a corporate card featuring RFID, the technology that enables small amounts to be paid simply by holding the card over the payment terminal, without any code or manipulation. There is a discrepancy with the B2C market, where the audience is broader, with a younger customer base," explains Laurent Sautré, Head of Corporate Card Sales and Implementation at BNP Paribas. In the B2B world, banks tend to react to their customers' needs rather than anticipate them. When it comes to contactless payment, there is currently no demand from businesses. None of the most recent calls for tender that we have conducted have included this aspect. As a result, the French bank has decided to focus this year on developing its corporate card offering in other countries, starting with Germany, before launching in 2014. "By waiting another year, we won't be out of step with the market".says Laurent Sautré.
From contactless to mobile
American Express is also taking its time, testing contactless cards in the B2C market in the United States, and is not expected to announce any major developments in this area in the near future. Is this to better seize the next opportunity to present itself, namely mobile payment? Payment via a smartphone is more likely to meet the needs of business travellers than contactless payment," says Stéphanie Laroque, American Express Cards and Solutions Sales Director. Because this new means of payment is part of a mobile dimension. As a bonus, it can offer additional services to assist the traveller at any time".
With the gradual expansion of the range of smartphones equipped with NFC technology, the future of mobile payment looks bright. A future that is eagerly awaited by Generation Y executives, and which will really take shape once the renewal of the mobile phone fleet is complete. Players like AirPlus are preparing for this. We are currently running a pilot phase in Germany," explains Nicole Flory, Marketing and Communications Director at Air Plus France. In this market and in the UK, we offer a plastic corporate card. This will shortly be replaced by the mobile solution. "In practice, via secure access, the business traveller uses their phone like a credit card; they tap their code on the screen and choose to debit either the company's corporate card account or their own account. "Companies without business card programmes will find this a practical solution for centralising payments and retrieving data".she concludes.
However, the widespread distribution of these futuristic payment methods is still in its infancy,
the move to virtual payment is as topical as ever. The dematerialisation of payments has long since made its mark on the world of business travel through the lodged card, adopted by major companies as the most practical way of paying for air travel. American Express, AirPlus - in partnership with BNP Paribas - CIC, Citi, Diners Club: all these players have made it one of the pillars of their corporate offers. This means of payment, which is registered with the travel agency, can be integrated directly into the booking process and allows travel policies to be closely monitored.
Because, let's not forget, the raison d'être of corporate payment solutions is first and foremost to build an efficient travel budget management process. Whether they are totally paperless or more "old school", like the plastic card, these solutions must ensure that expenditure converges seamlessly with the company's management software (ERP). The more integrated these expenses are, the more detailed the data will be, with no loss of information. And, by the same token, the less expense claims will have to be processed after the event. Which is not unimportant when you consider that Veolia estimates the cost of each transaction to its accounts department at 40, or even 60 euros.
The rise of the virtual card
In line with the desire of companies to consolidate their business travel costs, the lodging card is now being extended to sectors other than air travel, hotels and car hire, as well as catering, taxis, etc. - and is gaining ground among SMEs. However, this solution cannot cover all business expenses. That's why banking networks and corporate payment leaders have developed a new offering in recent years: the virtual card. This alternative is offered in particular by BNP Paribas, Citi, CIC and Société Générale, as well as by American Express under the name vPayment and by AirPlus with its AIDA solution, expected in France in 2014 and which has recently been backed by the Mastercard network, extending its acceptance even further. The virtual card focuses on a new area of travel spending, with the major advantage of being able to pay for purchases online. How does it do this? Quite simply by issuing a virtual bankcard number with an expiry date and a visual cryptogram for each transaction.
Industry professionals are satisfied with its development. "Our Vpayment solution is gaining ground and is proving highly successful in the area of hotel expenditure. This is not insignificant, since these are just behind air travel".says Stéphanie Laroque. "There is a strong trend, in France as in Germany and the UK, for companies to develop centralised payment. In this context, the virtual card is developing very well, thanks in particular to hotel reservation platforms.says Laurent Sautré. BNP's virtual card is accepted by CDS and many other players. For its part, American Express has stepped up its partnerships. The American Express VPayment card is interfaced with solutions from CDS, Hotel.info, Ialbatros, BSI and Hcorpo. Amex is also developing relations with Btravel and is in discussions with HRS, which has just integrated the AirPlus AIDA card into its payment methods.
The right solution for the hotel industry
These central reservation agencies, also known as hotel booking agencies (HBAs), have rapidly carved out a place for themselves in the still highly fragmented world of hotels. With a multitude of independent establishments rubbing shoulders with those of the major groups in the same destination, HBAs are giving travellers a wide choice to find the one best suited to their trip. So, while the virtual card also addresses other sectoral issues such as controlling MICE costs and is used in the public sector to purchase train tickets, it is in the hotel sector that it is seeing the greatest growth. The card number generated can be used to book the establishment with the HBAs, or even to pay for it directly if you want to pre-pay," explains Laurent Sautré. Payment on check-out is also possible, with the hotelier debiting the account corresponding to the virtual card number previously received.. This solution offers an alternative to payment by corporate card, making it even easier to reconcile expenses.
At a time when the virtual card is only just taking off, solutions that combine a debit card with a virtual card are already taking shape. At the end of October, Mastercard announced the launch of its Travel Controller solution. Every time a payment is made, even by debit card, a virtual card number is issued. This means that each invoice can be easily integrated into management tools, making the prospect of centralised payment at 100 % less and less illusory. At the same time, Visa will be extending its dematerialised payment offering thanks to an agreement recently signed with Conferma, a leader in the technology used to issue the famous virtual card numbers. "From now on, all banks participating in the Visa Europe network will be able to issue our virtual card numbers".explains Simon Barker, Chairman of Conferma. In this ever-changing environment, travel managers have every interest in becoming payment experts... or getting help. "We now offer a very wide range of interfaced solutions. That's why we're evolving our approach, placing the emphasis on a consultative approach, so that we can respond to customers' issues and recommend a particular solution based on their type of expenditure.explains Stéphanie Laroque. Because the purpose of corporate payment often justifies the use of several methods...
