Commercial Credit Card Spending Nears $1 Trillion in North America

Commercial credit cards for mid-to-large corporate market in the United States and Canada will continue to grow at a healthy pace, reflecting ongoing economic growth, a shift toward electronic payments, and the industry’s success in pushing the benefits of card-based programs for business-to-business (B2B) payments flows.

That’s according to a new research report from Mercator Advisory Group titled Commercial Credit Cards North America, 2017–2023: Growth and Change Continue. Mercator predicts strong opportunity during the next several years for commercial card issuers to push further into payables flows with virtual cards but advises that the industry needs to improve the ease of processing for suppliers and get pricing models right to foster broader adoption.

The analysis finds that the steady increase in U.S. commercial credit card spend continued in 2018 driven by a combination of factors, including continued growth in noncash payments, a reasonably strong economy, and what may be an accelerating trend away from paper and toward digital cash cycle solutions.

“If one thinks of the roughly $600 billion in North American B2B payment flows associated with commercial credit cards in the mid-to-large market space alone (not including other commercial card products), annual gross revenues are in the range of $15 billion, which is a substantial business. We have consistently maintained that there is a large opportunity available for cards-based payments to gain share above the 2% level given the unique underlying credit structure and ubiquity of the networks, availability of data, and relative speed of settlement,” commented Steve Murphy, Director of Mercator Advisory Group’s Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service, author of the report. “The major hurdles to gaining double or triple the share of commercial payments flows remain pricing and ease of use, including acceptance and automated handling of receivables.”

Highlights of the research report include:

A spending forecast in each major product category through 2023 for the United States and Canada
First-time summary and forecast for the Canadian market
Analysis of overall commercial payments flows and opportunities for cards to capture greater share
Review of latest trends, expectations, and innovations during a time of technology disruption

The full report is at Commercial Credit Cards North America, 2017–2023: Growth and Change Continue.