RBC’s City National Bank joins Extend to launch virtual Visa commercial credit card solution

By Pavithra R

City National Bank, America’s Premier Private and Business Bank has announced joining with Extend, New York City-based FinTech startup, to launch a virtual Visa commercial credit card solution that can generate true virtual cards on-demand which can easily be added to Google Pay and Apple Pay mobile wallets for simplified and secure contactless payments at the point of sale (POS). 

With the launch, City National commercial card clients can now instantly send virtual credit cards to employees, vendors and contractors with enhanced digital capabilities, specific spending limits and expiration dates, giving companies improved oversight and control over how corporate cards are used. Once the cards are issued and enabled in the digital wallet, employees, vendors and contractors can use the cards for online purchases or use Apple Pay and Google Pay mobile wallets to make contactless payments at POS with a mobile phone, without having to wait for a physical card.

“We’re all about providing our clients with state-of-the-art, efficient and secure payment solutions. City National has a long history of serving our clients in new and innovative ways, and providing our clients with easy-to-use digital solutions for their payment challenges allows us to better support them — especially at a time when many are working remotely. We’re proud to work with Extend and Visa on this terrific and groundbreaking functionality,” said Linda Duncombe, executive vice president and chief marketing, product and digital officer of City National Bank. 

The new virtual card solution:

• Makes it easier for clients to issue credit cards to their employees
• Simplifies payment process and offers additional perks including automatic reconciliation, receipt and invoice attachments and expense integrations.
• Provides enhanced security by leveraging Visa Token Service, Visa’s tokenization technology to replace a cardholder’s 16-digit Visa account number with a secure token protecting the underlying card number from fraudsters.

“Working with City National and Visa has been one of the most exciting opportunities of the last year. This is a huge industry first. Until now, no one has been able to tokenize true virtual cards for mobile wallets, which brings virtual cards to the point of sale — a hurdle that has stood in the way of serious mass adoption. Now virtual cards can be used just like plastic cards. We’re very excited to see the new value it can create for City National and their business clients,” said Andrew Jamison, CEO and co-founder of Extend.

Established in 1954, Los Angeles-based City National Bank offers a full complement of banking, trust and investment services through its 75 offices. Through its subsidiaries, including City National Rochdale; City National Securities; First American Equipment Finance, and other affiliated companies, City National also makes available wealth management, brokerage and leasing services among others.