In a new research note, Breaking Down Barriers: Challenges for Commercial Global Card Programs, Mercator Advisory Group examines the methods by which bank issuers can expand beyond local currency offers to better service corporate clients and manage more difficult markets.

“Being able to self-issue commercial cards in multiple regions and countries is a capability that many issuers would like to have but lack the global footprint to accomplish. Benefits of global self-issuance include full revenue recognition and managing client relationships at a local level and controlling the quality of data feeds to corporate customers, but issuers often choose an alliance method,” commented Steve Murphy, Director of Mercator Advisory Group’s Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service, and author of the report. “A major downside to the alliance model is that the partnerships with local banks can be developed in a rather ad-hoc manner, making it easy to lose visibility and control of the client relationship and revenue stream outside of the issuer’s home market.”

The note is 11 pages long and contains 5 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in this research note include American Express, Citibank, MasterCard and Visa