Glyde Payments has partnered with Mastercard to let travel businesses in Southern Africa pay suppliers with a unique virtual card for each booking.
The solution, called Glydepay, is powered by the Mastercard Wholesale Program and allows travel agencies and travel management companies to assign a virtual card number (VCN) to each booking and supplier transaction. South Africa-based Glyde Payments provides B2B payments, digital banking, and card services, and has built compliance and reporting for international transactions into its platform.
Virtual cards for supplier payments
Each VCN gives businesses control over how a payment can be used, including the amount, the merchant, and the period during which it is valid. According to the companies, this can simplify reconciliation, support faster settlement, and reduce the risk of fraud and chargebacks, while giving businesses more flexibility in managing working capital and clearer visibility of their transactions.
Darryl Adriaanzen, Country Manager, Southern Africa at Mastercard, stated that travel is an important driver of growth across Southern Africa, and that the businesses behind it need payment tools suited to how they work. According to Adriaanzen, bringing the Mastercard Wholesale Program to the region gives travel companies a safer and more transparent way to pay suppliers worldwide.
Extending Mastercard’s B2B travel programme
The Mastercard Wholesale Program is designed specifically for B2B travel payments, with more than 400,000 suppliers paid through it across multiple countries, and builds on more than a decade of virtual card use in the travel industry. Mastercard says modernising B2B travel payments is a global priority, and the Glyde launch extends collaborations with travel payment providers in Europe and other markets to Southern Africa.
Paulina Klotzbücher, CEO of Glyde Payments, stated that Glyde was built to simplify payments for businesses in the travel industry, and that working with Mastercard combines its travel payments platform with the scale of a global network. According to Klotzbücher, travel companies across Southern Africa can now issue a virtual card for every transaction, with the control, reporting, and compliance they need.
