American Express & Coupa to offer virtual card payments in the U.S.

By Pavithra R

American Express has announced an expansion of their collaboration with Coupa, a business spend management (BSM) platform provider, to bring virtual card payments to U.S.-based customers. 

The partnership expansion is built on the availability of American Express virtual Cards in the U.K. and Australia, simplifying outdated, complex, and inefficient payment processes for global businesses.

U.K. and Australia are experiencing an increased demand for the American Express virtual Card payment with Coupa Pay, with customers streamlining how they pay suppliers for all spend that goes through the Coupa Business Spend Management (BSM) Platform. COVID-19 has prompted companies around the world to accommodate remote workforces and the partnership expansion into the U.S. is expected to help meet the surging demand of customers to access virtual ways to pay suppliers and ensure their business continues to be operational.

“The pandemic has created widespread work from home policies, meaning previously fragmented and manual business payment processes are no longer an option. With Coupa Pay, Coupa and American Express are making it easier for our joint U.S. customers to thrive in this challenging environment by empowering them to pay using virtual Card technology. Now, every transactional step in the business spend management process can be done smarter and simpler,” said JR Robertson, vice president of Coupa Pay at Coupa.

To use American Express virtual Card solution in Coupa Pay, eligible business with American Express account tied to Coupa Pay can send virtual cards to authorized suppliers automatically and can be used for easy payments for in-demand items, providing greater visibility into payment details.

The integration benefits also include:

• Extended pre-approvals for card spend increasing visibility into spend across the organization.
• IMproved security when paying suppliers using virtual Card technology by generating a unique American Express Card number for each transaction.
• Increased visibility into the full payment process while automating invoice matching & reconciliation to improve efficiency.
• Use of the card’s payment cycle to better manage working capital for buyers.
• Streamlined payments and greater visibility into payment details for suppliers.

“Our expanded partnership with Coupa is the latest step in our strategy to accelerate investments in the B2B payments space to better serve our customers and offer best-in-class digital payment solutions. By integrating American Express virtual Card capabilities into the unified buyer and supplier experience of Coupa’s fast-growing BSM platform, we’re addressing our customers’ need to digitize payments and thereby becoming more essential to their operational needs,” said Trina Dutta, vice president and general manager of B2B Payments Automation, Global Commercial Services at American Express.

Established since 1850, American Express is a global services company, providing customers with exceptional access to products, insights, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.