Visa Europe and Conferma have announced an agreement to make the Conferma Virtual Travel Account platform and network available to Visa Europe members – banks and other payment service providers from 37 countries across Europe – and their commercial customers.

Virtual Travel Accounts offer customers greater efficiency and control when paying for business travel.

Using Conferma’s Virtual Card Number technology, they will be able to invoke a unique 16-digit VCN to settle each travel booking.

The VCN automatically matches the travel booking to the transaction to produce a completely accurate view of corporate travel expenditure.

Customers will be able to replace time-consuming manual reconciliation practices to reduce processing costs and enhance operational efficiencies and controls.

Ideal for infrequent travellers, consultants or temporary staff, Virtual Travel Accounts extend the benefits of electronic payments to situations where placing transactions on individual travel cards may not be desired or possible.

Detailed and customised data is also made available, enabling customers to enhance strategic sourcing and supplier management.

Visa members will be able to extend their commercial card offering to a wider customer base and increase billing potential from existing customers.

Tim Lewis, executive director, Visa Europe said: “Visa is delighted to be working with Conferma to bring their technology and expertise to our member banks.

“Virtual card payments are increasingly being adopted as the preferred payment method for business travel and we are looking forward to leveraging Conferma’s experience to complement and strengthen our range of commercial payment products.”

The service is available to Visa members with immediate effect.

They will be able to draw upon Conferma’s established experience in systems integration to lead bank and client implementations within an eight week timeframe, offering a swift route to market.