Citi Commercial Cards and Corporate Spending Innovations enters global payments alliance

By Pavithra R

Citi Commercial Cards has entered into a partnership with Corporate Spending Innovations (CSI), an Edenred company, to offer frictionless and innovative B2B payment solutions to Citi’s clients.

The integration combines Corporate Spending Innovations unique digital payment capabilities and Citi Commercial Card’s global network to jointly deliver fully integrated end-to-end payment solutions to customers.

The partnership enables Citi Commercial Card clients, whether leveraging a Visa or Mastercard solution, with the ability to integrate their virtual cards into Corporate Spending Innovations’ platform. This is highly beneficial for clients for making supplier payments, as the platform is connected to a large number of suppliers, including eCommerce and large digital advertising platforms.

The new solution will allow clients to pay approved invoices via a Citi virtual card in addition to ACH or check payments. The platform will serve both as a centralized tool for payment initiation and reconciliation, providing clients with enhanced reporting and reconciliation data, together with greater visibility into their card spend.

“A core element of our strategy is providing our customers with innovative and efficient global payment options. This integration with Corporate Spending Innovations will provide new ways for our clients to make streamlined payments to eCommerce suppliers, especially in the digital media and advertising space, leveraging Corporate Spending Innovations’ critical mass with supplier access via Citi’s global network,” said Gonca Latif-Schmitt, Global Head of Citi’s Commercial Cards.

By using this platform and moving spend to their card programs, clients can increase the overall value of payments processed and will benefit by improving working capital with increased rebates from suppliers. Suppliers will also benefit by receiving fast and secure payments, which is increasingly important as cash flows have been disrupted by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“CSI is excited about partnering with Citi to redefine B2B payments solutions delivered to their commercial card customers as part of our expansion in Corporate Payments,” said Marc Divay, General Manager, Corporate Payments, at Edenred.

The integration will be launched in United States first, with Canada and select European markets to follow. It will include access to suppliers across multiple verticals including digital media and advertising, eCommerce and telecommunications, which require complex solutions for managing payment reconciliatio