Innovation in Payments

A New Era for Business Travel 

From mobile wallets to real-time reconciliation and in-app fraud reporting, the evolution of corporate card programmes is changing travel and expense management for treasurers. Innovation in the card space is driving better visibility, stronger control, and a more seamless experience for employees worldwide. But what does that mean in practice? Three experts give us the lowdown.

Corporate travel is well and truly back after a pandemic-enforced break, but how companies manage it has changed. As hybrid working reshapes how and why employees travel, finance teams are rethinking traditional approaches to cards, reconciliation, and spend control. Digital tools, virtual cards, and real-time data are evolving the travel and expense (T&E) model to better serve both treasury and employees.

The resurgence of business travel does bring familiar challenges but the context has changed. Richard Gill, Regional Head of Commercial Cards, Europe, HSBC, explains: “We’re finding that business teams are travelling less often, but when they do, they typically head for multi-region events with clear strategic value. It is therefore crucial to balance spend policy controls, with sufficient flexibility to avoid frustration among employees, and spending on their personal cards which is harder to reconcile.”

Farewell to cumbersome, outdated processes

As corporate travel resurges, the trend of treasury departments managing T&E spend has also broadened. No longer limited to approving budgets or reviewing cash positions, some leading treasury teams are now driving card strategy by setting controls, tracking real-time data, and consolidating spend across regions. Gill adds: “Their focus is shifting to consolidation and unlocking working capital. It’s all about improving compliance, accelerating reconciliation, and unlocking working capital from day-to-day spend.”

Data from Visa highlights the scale of the opportunity here – and it’s not to be underestimated. Of the $1.6tr. global travel market’s gross bookings in 2024, $1tr. came from online bookings, with 24% of that volume flowing through intermediaries. Meanwhile, the HSBC corporate card portfolios with Visa show around 25% of card spend now being cross-border.

Clive Cornelius, Head of Large and Middle Market, Visa Commercial Solutions Europe, reflects: “That’s a huge amount of spend to get control over, and cards are great at bringing that added visibility, which will then help treasury teams to pinpoint areas for optimising spend and create working capital improvement.”

Despite this enormous potential, outdated processes persist in many organisations, meaning card programmes aren’t always as efficient as they could be. For example, the heavy reliance on personal credit cards, particularly at smaller businesses, continues to muddy the waters.

As Cornelius explains: “Around 40% of commercial spend is still on personal cards. That creates reconciliation headaches and reduces visibility. In such cases, employees may front the costs of thousands of pounds and reclaim them later. But this cumbersome process creates unnecessary pressure on staff and complicates financial reporting too.”

Gill agrees: “When reconciling against expense submissions from personal cards instead of corporate accounts, you lose transparency. There’s more room for error, and it’s harder to verify whether spend aligns with policy. But thankfully, this is where tools like virtual cards can modernise workflows quickly and simply.”

Virtually fuss-free

Initially designed for online bookings, virtual cards are now actually being deployed in face-to-face settings (as counter-intuitive as that might sound) because they are increasingly integrated into mobile wallets, and can support a broader range of use cases. “The flexibility of virtual cards enables corporates to remain in control while capturing procurement categories,” comments Gill.

Virtual cards can also support personnel such as agency workers, interviewees, and employees below the typical corporate’s threshold for having a physical company card. Cornelius notes: “Traditionally, only senior staff or the most regular of travellers were issued corporate cards. With virtual, even junior or temporary employees can be supported without compromising on control. So, there are social and wellbeing benefits alongside the efficiencies.”

From a treasury perspective, though, the true draw of virtual cards lies in automation and precision. Real-time features enable administrators to change limits, approve or restrict spend types, and block cards on the fly. Gill elaborates: “If an employee has a medical emergency abroad, for example, you can increase their card limit in real time. Support doesn’t have to come at the cost of control – you can absolutely have both, more or less instantly.”

That focus on real-time flexibility is echoed in how tools are being developed for administrators and end users. Dimple Gadhvi, Senior Product Development Manager, HSBC, notes: “We’ve been busy investing in our card management tools, with a strong focus on the app version, so corporates and cardholders see the same real-time information on everything from reversals to pending transactions.”

To this end, HSBC is expanding functionality to include simple and easy in-app fraud reporting and lost or stolen card alerts, helping to prevent cyber-crime. The ability to freeze cards temporarily (they can just as easily be unfrozen) is proving especially popular, since it reduces fraud exposure and avoids automatically issuing replacement cards, supporting cost savings and sustainability efforts.

Additional innovations the team has been working on include user-facing tools such as instant payment notifications with detailed transaction explanations, real-time balances, and simplified authentication. Gadhvi explains: “We’re phasing out codes and generic descriptors in our transaction reporting. Instead, users see clearly labelled transactions, like you would as a consumer. It’s much more informative and helpful to the end-user.”

App-based authorisation also improves compliance and usability, she adds. This essentially means there is no longer a need for a drawer or briefcase full of physical card readers. And the SMS verification is also no longer the only other route. “For users in markets with stricter authentication requirements, app-based authorisation also improves compliance and usability,” adds Gadhvi.

T&E without borders

Despite all of the advancements, rolling out digital card programmes across multiple regions inevitably comes with a few challenges along the way. Different regulatory environments and legacy systems can slow progress, for example, as corporates often have to grapple with different requirements.

But to help counter this, HSBC is moving to harmonise the experience across geographies. Gill outlines: “Anyone in the Middle East using the app will see exactly the same as those in Europe. It’s streamlined and simple, which users love.” 

Gadhvi reveals: “Clients are asking for global visibility across subsidiaries, particularly multinationals. With teams across time zones and business units, it’s no longer enough to receive regional snapshots – they want to see the whole picture – that’s what we’re delivering and it’s incredibly powerful for our end users.”

Treasury’s secret weapon

While the drivers behind card innovation often start with convenience, scratch the surface and it’s clear the benefits for treasury teams go much deeper. Cornelius explains: “Cards have come a long way from just paying for flights and hotels. More companies, across industry sectors, are now exploring how card programmes could support wider supplier and operational spend by freeing up working capital, improving visibility, and making payments simpler along the way.”

Gill points out: “It’s not just about improving the employee experience – it’s about giving treasurers clear visibility into where and when money is being spent, all while ensuring alignment with company policy. We’re seeing a growing number of treasury teams engage on this topic, with corporate cards increasingly in focus.”

Data analytics are also increasingly supporting treasurers as they look to track how card programmes are performing, and where working capital optimisation opportunities can be discovered. This could be through monitoring how much spend flows through cards, how quickly expenses are reconciled, or how widely the tools are being used. Other metrics, such as transaction-level detail, policy compliance, or working capital impact, can offer further insights into how well the programme supports broader goals.

The bigger picture

In short, as virtual cards and mobile wallets gain momentum, security and control features are enhanced, and real-time data becomes available across desktop and app channels, a fundamental transformation is taking place. Corporate card programmes can now scale easily and seamlessly across geographies – and use cases are growing accordingly.

Whether it’s onboarding a new employee, or adapting to market-specific rules, treasurers now have the tools to act with speed, while ensuring security, visibility and compliance.