Travel technology company Amadeus has announced a partnership to integrate Barclaycard’s virtual cards offering Precisionpay into its B2B Wallet payment solution.
The Precisionpay virtual card technology allows businesses to generate a single-use digital card number that is linked to a specific purchase. Barclaycard says this means transactions can automatically be reconciled, saving time and effort for the company’s finance team.
Virtual cards are also designed to be more secure than traditional methods because card numbers can only be used for a specific purchase with a particular supplier – so if an employee has a device with the card number on it stolen, thieves cannot use it to buy anything else, David Price, MD of client coverage at Barclaycard told BBT at this week’s Business Travel Show.
Barclaycard and Amadeus say the other advantage of Precisionpay is that users can pay suppliers upfront without affecting cashflow or tying up capital.
Amadeus says its client Flight Centre is already using the integrated solution.
Bart Tompkins, MD of payments at Amadeus, told BBT the partnership with Barclaycard ‘made sense’ because both companies have a technology-focused approach to providing solutions for corporate customers.
Tompkins commented: “Payments is not a one-size-fits-all business. That’s why we developed the B2B Wallet concept, which gives travel agencies access to a range of different payment options in a single link. The addition of Barclaycard brings greater choice and deepens our credit offer, enabling our travel agencies to better manage their cashflow.”
Price added: “Since launching the UK’s first corporate credit card over 50 years ago, Barclaycard has been pushing the boundaries to create payment solutions that help make businesses more successful.
“While cashflow remains one of the main challenges for any growing business, we know that travel agencies in particular have an ongoing need to make up-front purchases before they themselves get paid. This integration with Amadeus will be another way to help travel agencies take control of their cashflow and become even more competitive.”
Adam Murray, CFO of Flight Centre Travel Group UK, said: “Using the Amadeus B2B Wallet with Barclaycard allows our agents to pay for all spend types through a streamlined process. As the payments are integrated into our core system, the B2B Wallet means we can implement new teams quickly and scale up across Europe as we expand.”
amadeus.com; barclaycard.co.uk/business