Digital banking and payments company i2c has entered into a partnership with Beyond Money Business.
The partnership, announced on Monday (22 July), will see the two companies launch a corporate expense card program for the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, targeting businesses in Bahrain before eventually expanding to Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
“The launch of the Beyond Money Business Corporate Card program is part of our overall effort to provide the infrastructure that supports and accelerates our growth and operational efficiencies,” Serena Smith, i2c’s chief customer officer, said in a news release.
“This launch is a great example of how our extensive network and certification with major card brands ensures widespread and seamless regional access.”
According to the release, the program will leverage i2c’s modular building block SaaS technology to help businesses manage their expenses through “enhanced functionality” and security features such as 3D security for e-commerce transactions.
The two companies say the partnership responds to the growing demand for specialized financial tools for businesses.
As PYMNTS wrote earlier this year, companies are increasingly using corporate cards to manage B2B spending, “ensuring they have ample capital for whatever the market brings.”
Even businesses in traditional industries where lockboxes and paper checks still prevail, such as the transportation and logistics sector, are looking at commercial cards as a tool to manage operations and employee spending.
“This shift is being accelerated by an evolving commercial landscape toward a more equitable sharing of credit card transaction costs,” PYMNTS wrote. “Historically, merchants have borne the brunt of these costs, but the value proposition for each party involved in a B2B card transaction is constantly being reevaluated.”
For example, businesses can negotiate longer terms with commercial card issuers to defer payments, maintain good relationships with suppliers, and optimize cash flow and working capital.
Meanwhile, PYMNTS spoke with Seth Pearlman, global head of product at i2c, earlier this month, who said that as open banking becomes more widespread in the U.S., application programming interfaces (APIs) will become more widely known and valued.
Speaking as part of his “What’s Next in Payments” series, he said that APIs are “only an interface to what’s ‘below’ in terms of financial services, processing and commerce. That is, they are a scalable, fast way to integrate into underlying services, but they don’t replace the underlying processing infrastructure or other capabilities.”
