Expend, the business expense management digital platform, have announced record take-up of their industry-first product ‘CardConnect™’. They are the first UK platform to process business expense data instantly, from Mastercard and Visa transaction feeds, directly into an expense capability.

Expend clients can now benefit from real-time expense settlement, streamlining financial management and improved efficiency.

Expend CEO, Johnny Vowles says: '’Card Connect has two important attributes. It enables companies to connect all of their business cards to our single platform, which has multi-card acceptance. This means that users can view and submit all of their expense claims in one app, whether, for example, they paid on their corporate Barclaycard or business HSBC card.

“The second is that these card payments can be viewed in the app instantly, as they happen. There is no wait time between making the payment and seeing it in the Expend app.”

He explains: “Employees can charge business expenses to their Visa or Mastercard business card, and by connecting their preferred business cards to Expend, the transaction information can be processed quickly and seamlessly. Users can add receipts, categorise the expense and submit it for approval, via the app, in a few moments, and at the time they are making the purchase, which is very convenient. So, for example - the expense for team coffees can be completed and submitted by the time the coffee is ready.”

He adds: “Managers and finance teams can view these submitted expenses from multiple cards, in one place, then send them through their approval flow for sign-off, and accounting reconciliation. All expenses paid for on different payment methods can be handled in one single platform, saving the headache of multiple logins and banking apps to collate expense data.”

Johnny Vowles continues: “Traditional expense management is an ‘eye roll’ moment for firms of all sizes, and their employees. Paper-based receipts, clunky claims processes, and long sign-off routines create headaches and delays for finance teams and colleagues. However, with Expend’s Card Connect, we are continuing to revolutionise the expense management market.

“Clients tell us that the choice of card is valuable. For example, some have a favoured business card on which they are accruing travel points or loyalty benefits. It also reduces friction when firms move to Expend, which is a card-agnostic platform. So, managers with a high travel and entertainment profile can continue with their existing credit facilities and can register their preferred cards seamlessly.”

Typically, payments on business credit card balances are managed centrally by a firm’s finance team, costing the company valuable time in processing each expense purchase. This can include card payments needing to be checked against bank statements. Expend’s Card Connect removes this overhead. It also eliminates the risk of errors being introduced through manual data inputting.

Johnny Vowles explains: “With Card Connect, whenever a Mastercard or Visa Business Credit or Debit card that has been linked with the company’s Expend account is used, a notification will be sent to the recipient to record the receipt on their smartphone and submit it for processing via the Expend app.”

He concludes: “Expend Card Connect continues our mission to improve real-time visibility and zero-touch processing of personal expenses, and answers a pressing customer need.”