HSBC launches virtual debit cards for UAE businesses

Business Banking

Mita Srinivasan
Business Banking
Published:

HSBC launches virtual debit cards for UAE businesses

Commercial Cards suite set up to meet the rising demand for more flexible, business to business payment solutions

HSBC has launched virtual debit cards for businesses in the UAE with a minimum annual turnover of $15 million. Complementing its existing HSBC Commercial Cards suite, which includes virtual credit cards, the new virtual debit cards reinforce the bank’s commitment to pioneering digital enhancements to meet the rising demand for more flexible, business to business payment solutions.

Kailash Nair, Regional Head of Commercial Cards, Middle East North Africa and Turkey, HSBC, said: “The pace of digital adoption by businesses in the UAE has accelerated over the past 12 months, with an increased demand for more flexible payment channels. HSBC is investing to create a bank fit for the future and for us that means availing multiple digital options to suit the different needs of our diverse corporate client base. Launching Virtual Debit Cards is a prime example of the bank’s digital upgrades in action, by which we are able to bring to our clients more choice in making B2B payments.”

HSBC’s virtual debit cards, which operate on the Visa platform, generate single-use card numbers, or ‘tokens’, for each transaction, with the payment debited directly from the corporate cardholder’s current account. Using Visa’s Payables Automation platform, a card is distributed electronically, protecting the primary card number and providing enhanced payment security and efficiency.

HSBC’s recent Navigator 2020 survey of more than 100,000 companies around the world showed that digital is key to businesses succeeding as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, with ‘high growth’ companies (42 percent of businesses expecting sales growth of more than 5 percent in 2021) now making most sales online. 32 percent of high growth firms expect technology-driven efficiencies to be a key driver for their recovery, more so than businesses with lower or no growth. As a result, 87 percent plan to invest in digital tools and platforms next year, while a third have already innovated new products and services.