Payroll Cards Find Opportunity In Corporates’ Digitization Push

With the pandemic nudging businesses further into the digital payments realm, commercial card innovation is heating up to capitalize on the opportunity for adoption. This week’s commercial card innovation roundup includes initiatives in areas like employee expense and small business credit, but some of the biggest disruption emerges in the payroll card arena thanks to a recent court decision and companies’ accelerating abandonment of physical paychecks.

Boost Bolsters BMO Harris Bank’s Biz Cards

Boost Payment Solutions is partnering with BMO Harris Bank to support integrated commercial card processing for the bank’s business customers, the firms recently announced. Boost will enable straight-through-processing for BMO Harris Bank’s Approve2Pay Corporate Card solution, enabling that card product to facilitate automated processing, remittance reporting and efficiencies for both buyer and supplier. In a statement, BMO Harris Bank Head of North American Corporate Card Products Steve Pederson said the partnership “helps our clients streamline the B2B payment process, better support cash flow needs, and simplifies the process suppliers traditionally go through to accept a payment.”

Mastercard, EedenBull Expand Into APAC

Mastercard and Eedenbull are broadening their existing partnership into the Asia Pacific region in a move that sees Mastercard supporting EedenBull’s commercial card platform offered to banks. EedenBull, which is based in Norway, Scotland and Singapore, launched its commercial card platform in May to support financial institutions’ management of their own business cards and integrated rewards programs. In addition to the corporate card solution, EedenBull also connects those banks with its Q Business spend management tool for value-added services on top of FIs’ corporate card offerings.

Global Cash Card’s Legal Saga Ends

Payroll card provider Global Cash Card has reportedly lost its legal battle against the New York Department of Labor, which had imposed regulations on payroll card companies in an effort to protect employees against unfair fees. The legal saga endured for years with several rulings, but reports in Womble Bond Dickinson said New York’s highest court has officially dismissed Global Cash Card’s appeal. In its report, the publication warned, “this should probably be a wake-up call to get into compliance immediately” for other payroll card solution providers and employers.

ADP Eyes Payroll Card Adoption Jump

The New York Department of Labor’s legal victory comes as employers across the country are increasing their use of payroll cards, the result of pandemic disruption, according to ADP Director of Compliance Solutions Laura Valdespino. She told PYMNTS in a recent interview that the current climate has prevented firms from being able to use paper checks to compensate employees. While before the pandemic, many employers viewed payroll cards as “just another choice” to facilitate payments to workers, today, said Valdespino, they’re considered by many companies to be vital to business continuity.

Galileo Launches Contractor Pay Card

As companies elevate their use of payroll cards, Galileo Financial Technologies is rolling out its own solution to facilitate employee compensation. Targeted toward businesses with contract workers, Galileo’s new solution, Galileo Instant, facilitates debit card program rollout in as quickly as two weeks for employers. The cards can be used to support payment to 1099 workers and other types of professionals, the company noted, adding that firms “need to pay their content creators and gig workers quickly and easily.”

Capital On Tap Enables Receipt Bank Card

In a collaboration with U.K. accounting FinTech Receipt Bank, business lender Capital on Tap is facilitating the rollout of the Receipt Bank Card, a commercial card for small businesses. Capital on Tap wields the commercial card to connect small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to financing. In its partnership with Receipt Bank, the lending firm is supporting spend and expense management for joint SMB customers, with Receipt Bank’s data extraction and collection automation technology able to automatically sync card transaction data into its accounting platform for analysis. The partnership also takes advantage of Capital on Tap’s Xero integration to further promote transaction reconciliation, the firms noted.

Namibia Wildlife Resorts Entices Business Spend

Namibia Wildlife Resorts is hoping to entice more businesses to visit its facilities through the rollout of a corporate card. Reports in the Namibia Economist said the company is introducing a corporate card as part of its NamLeisure initiative, which provides businesses with discounts on meetings, conferences and other events held at the resort’s establishments.

ScaleFactor’s Card Offering Nixed

Though it had been planning to debut its commercial card solution, payroll and accounting FinTech ScaleFactor has decided to shutter operations as a result of pandemic-related volatility. The company notified its employees late last month that it will be closing as a result of diminished demand from SMB customers, despite having raised $100 million in a recent investment round.

“It’s not the outcome we wanted, but it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do,” ScaleFactor Founder and CEO Kurt Rathmann told Forbes.