TR E A S U RY MANAG EM ENT
THE "NEW" COMMERCIAL CARD
The last few years have seen commercial credit cards mature into a sophisticated expense management
solution for businesses of all sizes.
WITH A SPEND VOLUME OF OVER $500 BILLION in 2018,
commercial credit cards are solidly becoming a part of the
everyday financial decisions and actions of businesses, from
your average mid-size businesses to multi-national corpo-
rations. Given that we can expect to see that number rise
an additional $343 billion by 2022, we can also expect to see
commercial card usage continue to rise.
What is it that is driving this increased commercial card
to Ralph C. Aiello, Senior Vice President and Treasury
Management Sales Manager for Sterling National Bank.
“But, purchasing cards have really been taking off in the
last five years, and Sterling’s commercial card program
is expanding significantly.”
Commercial Card Benefits
Commercial card programs offer mid-size companies cost
usage? Using a credit card is not much different than it was savings and easier expense management. Paying with a credit
when the little plastic rectangles were introduced in the card is significantly cheaper for a company than using checks.
1960s. However, what happens behind the scenes when Cards also offer rebate programs and opportunities to negotiate
transactions are processed—especially for cards issued discounts that would not be possible with paper payments. In
to businesses—is another story.
Until recently, cards issued to small businesses were not
much different from personal credit cards. Large corporations
pioneered the integration of card transactions into corporate
accounting systems, but that kind of integration was not
available for small business users.
Until the last few years, the corporate card market was
dominated by American Express, and most banks were not
issuing many corporate cards. That started to change five to
seven years ago, as Visa and Mastercard grew their presence
in the market. The rates those companies charge participating
banks, as well as their quicker transaction settlement times,
jumpstarted the corporate card market, which began experi-
encing rapid technological advances.
Commercial cards fall into two primary categories: travel and
entertainment cards, and purchasing cards. Even before this
market shift, travel and entertainment cards were fairly common.
“Travel and entertainment cards are what most people
think of when it comes to commercial cards,” according
addition, commercial cards can be programmed with custom
restrictions for individual users. One user might be authorized
to purchase only office supplies, or a truck driver might be
limited to buying fuel and repairs but not meals.
“Data from credit card
purchases can be exported
to a company’s own sys-
tem or accessed through
the commercial card plat-
form,” adds Greg Williams,
Senior Product Director
and Head of Payables for
Sterling. “The commercial
card platform allows a
company administrator
to do expense manage-
ment for all cards issued
to employees in one place.”
For more information
about commercial
credit cards as an
expense management
tool, read Sterling
National Bank’s white
paper, “Commercial
Cards: An Emerging
Solution for Mid-Size
Companies” at
connect.snb.com/
commercial-cards.
“With commercial cards, companies can speed up their receivables,
slow down their payables, and help reduce fraud.”
—Ralph C. Aiello, Sterling National Bank
RANKED ONE OF FORBES' BEST BANKS OF 2019 // CONNECT INNOVATION FALL 2019 // SNB.COM
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