Meridian Bank Unlocks Benefits from Launching a Business Credit Card Program
Sophisticated charge card products have grown in demand by medium and large companies for their employee’s expenses and vendor payments. There have been needed advancements in digitalizing commercial business-to-business payments. Recently, Pennsylvania-based Meridian Bank implemented Corserv’s industry-leading credit card program to better serve their business and commercial customers.
Meridian is a $2 billion full-service commercial bank, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Greater Philadelphia with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Florida. This innovative regional bank specializes in business and industrial lending, retail and commercial real estate lending, electronic payments and wealth management solutions through Meridian Wealth Partners. Meridian also offers a full suite of depository and cash management products supported by robust online and mobile access. Meridian was in need of a new credit card product to properly support their business and commercial customers.
Understanding Business Credit Card Programs
Business credit card programs are essential to keep track of all the back-end data and to have a one-stop shop for all reporting and expense capabilities. Many financial institutions haven’t had the capability or products like a commercial credit card program in their suite. Most companies tend to go to larger banks or fintechs for these services, but then don’t receive the same relationship or service that they enjoy with their local bank. Meridian is in a better position to underwrite their relationship customers for a credit card than a national credit card bank.
Corserv enables financial institutions to offer a feature-rich product to their business customers. Each business customer has internal business administrators that use a self-service portal to add new cardholders and manage their accounts including spend controls, virtual cards, fleet cards, employee-level credit limits, billing at a consolidated level or individual level and built-in expense reporting with appropriate approvals.
Corserv’s robust program enables Meridian to continue offering innovative solutions to its customers through credit card products with a variety of APRs, rewards and features. For Meridian, it was crucial that their credit card program offer extensive commercial and business capabilities, such as virtual cards with invoice data to pay vendors instead of sending checks.
Key benefits
Corserv’s turnkey card issuing program minimizes the disruption, cost and resources needed for typical card programs while enabling our partners to average over 8% Return on Assets on the business card program. Corserv strives to provide institutions like Meridian with payment card features that compete with the largest banks, while doing what community banks do best – serve the specific needs of their community.
“Through this partnership, we are able to offer our business customers tailored credit card solutions that cater to their specific needs,” said Jason Rose, Vice President, Treasury Sales and Service at Meridian. “Corserv's expertise in payment programs empowers us to stay competitive and deliver enhanced financial solutions and streamline expense management."
The Corserv-Meridian partnership, which introduces an industry-leading credit card program, highlights the growing significance of business credit card programs in the banking industry. Two primary categories of commercial cards and business credit cards offer distinct benefits and cater to the diverse needs of companies.
Commercial Cards: Enhanced Expense Management and Payment Flexibility
Commercial cards are sophisticated charge card products designed for medium and large companies. They require full payment within 30 days, enabling efficient expense management and improved cash flow. These cards are highly sought after by companies for various purposes, including employee expenses and vendor payments. According to a recent report by Accenture, spending on commercial cards is projected to grow at a rate of over 12% annually. This growth is fueled by the increased utilization of virtual and ghost cards that can include invoice data, which offer enhanced security and convenience while replacing costly check and invoice handling.
Business Credit Cards: Flexible Financing and Rewards Options
Business credit cards, on the other hand, provide revolving credit with risk-based priced variable annual percentage rates (APRs) and credit lines. They are primarily utilized by small businesses, with an average of around four cards issued on a single credit line. These cards often leverage the credit scores of business owner or executive guarantors for approval and allow the owners to stop using their personal cards for business expenses. Business credit cards offer flexibility in financing, allowing businesses to manage their cash flow effectively. Moreover, they are available in various types, including low APR cards and those with attractive rewards options, providing additional value to small businesses.
The introduction of Corserv's credit card program to Meridian emphasizes the importance of offering tailored credit card solutions to meet the specific needs of businesses across different sectors and sizes.
Looking Ahead
As a result of offering full-featured credit card services, Meridian will deepen relationships with businesses, non-profits and municipalities in its community. Meridian will also see an increase in profitability because the volume tends to be higher on commercial cards as opposed to consumer cards. It is a substantial payment volume that goes through these products with a higher interchange. Since it is a non-revolving product, commercial cards also experience lower loss rates.
“Because we run Meridian like a business, we understand the needs of our community business owners,” said Jason Rose. “We found that virtual card support, automated credit-decisioning, extensive spend controls, business self-service features, and free expense reporting from Corserv’s program allow us to offer specialized features to our business and commercial customers.”
About Author:
Anil Goyal is the CEO of Corserv, a company that provides innovative payment card issuing solutions to banks and fintechs. Corserv’s offering combines deep credit, compliance and marketing expertise with modern API-based technology to quickly build and manage a successful card-issuing program.