Mastercard delivers greater transparency for commercial cardholders

Mastercard has enhanced the back office experience for commercial cardholders by providing enhanced data transparency for Amazon Business transactions.

Reconciling B2B transactions can be challenging for many treasury teams businesses due to lack of robust reporting tools, the complexities of working with a large number of suppliers, the high volume of expenses to process and the little information for each transaction that’s often the norm.

Mastercard hopes this new collaboration will enable mid- and large-size businesses to have a more intuitive and transparent way to understand and manage their expenses. A detailed understanding of each line-item, such as item description, price and relevant tax information, for all Amazon Business purchases, will be provided to help businesses better track expenses, expedite financial reconciliation and streamline the filing and auditing of expense reports.

The product is currently available in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States for Mastercard commercial cards issued by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Bank PLC, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Lloyds Bank, NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Reconciliation benefits

“More detailed transaction data helps make doing business easier,” said Jeff Feuerstein, senior vice president, Commercial Products, Mastercard. “Our collaboration with Amazon Business streamlines financial reporting and cuts down on time spent reconciling transactions against statements. It gives our customers a clearer understanding of money spent.”

Companies that enroll Mastercard commercial cards through bank partners are able to:

• View the details, quantities, unit price and tax for individual items they purchase
• See the shipping amounts associated with the financial charge
• Directly update information either in their expense management system or in the Smart Data platform

Mastercard has enhanced Smart Data, its expense reporting and analytics suite, to leverage this enriched data to provide new reports and custom reporting tools.

David Voss, head of Commercial Cards for Global Transaction Services (GTS), EMEA at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (bofAML) said: “Providing enhanced data to European users of Amazon Business is another example of how BofAML works with clients to optimise their Commercial Card programmes, and more broadly, their working capital. The enriched data will help clients manage their supplier payments more efficiently, and will allow for smoother reporting and reconciliation.”