This particular posting has sort of an “all-encompassing” title, but is more specifically a discussion around the existing and possible effects of PSD2, Brexit and IFR on the European corporate (nee commercial) card market. So for those of you seeking a broader corporate payment landscape discussion, this piece has its limits. It is important to understand terminology as well, since corporate cards are often interpreted to mean travel cards (T&E) while commercial cards typically represents the full product suite (including p cards and virtual). Additionally, many industry participants tend to lump small business card products in with commercial cards, which Mercator does not do, since they are very different constituencies.
In any event, using some industry player quotes, the piece cover some broad brush approach points out a few of the issues facing issuers of com cards, including PSD2 authentication requirements still under review, IFR impact on issuers for individually settled accounts (a T&E card impact) and potential Brexit issues. An excerpt is as follows:
Maria Parpou, product director for Barclaycard Commercial Payments, explains:“PSD2 is a broad piece of regulation covering a number of areas, from how complaints are handled to customer authentication through to the opening up of data to a range of new players. “There could be numerous implications for the commercial card market, including changes that drive more robust security and further innovation.”
Mercator has covered all of these implications in very detailed fashion in several pieces during the past 12 months (IFR, Brexit) including a recently published report entitled Commercial Card Global Markets: Travel and Virtual Accounts Driving Growth. Generally the point of the referred posting is that technology advancements and some new thinking are helping issuers and card schemes and to overcome hurdles placed before them by regulators. Adaptation is and should continue to be a strong point for the industry.
Innovation is key to this development, and companies are casting their net wide to find the “next big thing” in payments. For example, Visa recently launched its Everywhere Initiative in Europe. This offers entrepreneurs up to €50,000 to help develop new payments technology. This project has already been running in the Americas and Asia.Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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