Tag: prepaid business cards

Virtual cards and the perks for gamification

Encouraging employees to give their all to a special project or just their daily workflow can be tough. This is especially true in the current climate, when many employees are working out of their own homes and often feel more than a little removed from the office culture that their company has worked so hard to cultivate.

However, there are ways to encourage employees to put in their best work without resorting to tighter restrictions and deadlines. In fact, you will be rewarding them while they work harder than ever.

If you have been using gamification to encourage your employees, you can now give them a great gift to spur them on even more.

Gamification and employee engagement

Studies have shown that gamification is an excellent way to get employees fully engaged with the systems and processes involved with their work, and can encourage them to give more than ever before to their job.

By turning work into a game, you will know that your own employees feel more excited about reaching certain goals and milestones. But what about when they have achieved a certain quota or finished a project? Is it enough to simply say well done, or to give them a store card?
We think there is a better way to reward your employees!

Why choose prepaid digital cards?

A prepaid digital card gives your employees cashback, rather than a card they will need to spend in a specific store, or the promise of a team meal sometime in the future. While large financial bonuses are not always appropriate or possible in the workplace, these cards are suitable for both big and smaller wins.

It is no secret that during this current time, people need more encouragement and engagement than ever, but that can feel challenging at the best of times. With a prepaid digital gift card, there are so many perks on offer, including:

Being able to make the amount appropriate to the project/event
Showing your employees you value and trust them
Celebrating not just yearly achievements but smaller wins
Not having to worry about the gift being appropriate for the person
Giving a diverse reward that anyone can enjoy
Having a reward that is suitable for employees at all levels
Providing a gift that is suitable for lockdowns or more free times
Upping engagement in a simple step
Reminding employees that they are still part of a company culture
Showing that gamification is not just about fun, but getting a great “prize”
The happiness project

You will find, through the use of prepaid gift cards, that your employees are more involved in the gamification of systems and processes than ever. Not only that, but you can reward them for getting through a difficult year, and encourage them to do their best in whatever comes next. It’s a real win-win situation!

If you are an employer who knows the value of gamification in the workplace, then you will want to introduce this great “prize” for your employees to work towards. It really is the best choice for making them feel valued, happy, and eager to work hard.

Tags digital cards, gamification, prepaid business cards, Rewards & Incentives

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B4B Payments announces E-money Institution status in Europe

Continuing to go from strength to strength, B4B celebrates another major achievement this year.

B4B Payments are incredibly pleased to announce their new EMI status and continued expansion into Europe. On the 26th of November 2020, the Board of the Bank of Lithuania issued an electronic money institution license to UAB B4B Payments Europe, the new European branch of the B4B Payments Group. This secures B4B Payments fast access to the financial markets of continental Europe, granting the company the right to provide a range of payment processing services to all EU member states.

“This will ensure that B4B Payments stays Brexit-proof for clients and cardholders no matter what exit deal we end up with” said Paul Swinton, the co-founder and CEO of B4B Payments, continuing “We’re very excited to be expanding with a permanent office in the EU market and at the same time improving the service we offer to our current clients by improving the coverage of B4B’s services. 2020 has been a busy year, and this is a fantastic way to finish it off for us.”

As part of this expansion, B4B Payments are also happy to be welcoming on board a new member to the team: Vladimiras Kolesovas, the new General Manager for Europe, based in Vilnius. With 25 years of experience in the financial sector, including multiple senior positions at SEB and CFO of ConnectPay, Vladimiras is an incredibly valuable addition to the B4B team.

“I’ve joined B4B at a very exciting time as the organisation goes from strength to strength with an expansion into Europe and the USA, as well as other impressive achievements in becoming an E-Money Issuer in the UK and attaining Mastercard Principal member status” says Vladimiras. “I am looking forward helping the team continue moving closer to its mission and achieve tremendous results setting B4B apart from competitors, placing them firmly as an industry leader of innovative b2b payment and expense tracking products, helping our customers achieve more by saving their time for what is important.”

This tops off a productive year for B4B Payments, who offer corporate expense management solutions including corporate expense cards and prepaid business cards. Over the course of the year, B4B have gained EMI status in the UK and expanded into the USA, as well as joining Mastercard as a principal member. As a leading payment processing provider now operating internationally, B4B Payments offer forward-thinking solutions to organisations and businesses of all sizes.

Tags B4B Payments, prepaid business cards, pressroom

Company News Newsroom Uncategorised

B4B: UK E-money Institution & Mastercard Principal Membership

Payment solutions experts, B4B Payments (B4B), celebrate approval to become an E-money institution and the launch of a new branch office in Vilnius, Lithuania. This follows on from the launch of the Boston branch in August 2020, the launch of its products in the USA and is another step completed in the strategic goal of B4B to widen their company reach on a global scale.

On Friday 28th August, the FCA authorised B4B to operate as an E-money Institution (EMI). The following week, B4B joined Mastercard as a principal member. This change in status will allow the company to issue their own cards and offer even more innovative prepaid business cards and payment solutions throughout Europe.

As an EMI, B4B Payments will take responsibility for and be able to issue electronic money in the form of prepaid cards for its business clients, which can then be used to make payments to third parties. This removes another supplier from its supply chain bringing faster decision making and an improved approach to product enhancements.

The Vilnius branch will cover all of B4B Payment’s customers in Europe, helping to Brexit-proof the company and the company is on track to receive a second EMI licence in Lithuania.

Dual authorisation as an E-money institution allows B4B Payments to provide their financial payment solutions to all territories in Europe. No matter what exit deal the UK secures with the EU, this approval will allow B4B Payments to continue to provide their high-quality services to businesses throughout Europe.

Paul Swinton, B4B Payments co-founder and CEO said: “This is undoubtedly an exciting time for us. We are taking the next step in our global expansion plan and have just been approved to become an E-money institution in one country and a second will shortly follow. We have also continued our long-established relationship with Mastercard by becoming a principal member. As we migrate all our European cardholders away from Wirecard Card Solutions onto our own licence we will ensure there is no impact to cardholders or our business customers. We are delighted to grow our company with our clients and look forward to offering more enhancements to our corporate payment solutions moving forward”

For over 14 years, B4B Payments have been leading the Fintech and prepaid solutions market, working with a global team to offer consistently innovative and flexible payment solutions that can help businesses manage their corporate expenses efficiently and easily.

Paul added, “I’d like to thank the hard work of the B4B Payments team who managed to make this all possible and our colleagues at Mastercard who have acted quickly and decisively to ensure that thousands of customers of Wirecard will not be further impacted. The passion of our company has enabled the first stages of our international expansion to be a huge success and I can’t wait to continue to share news of our success with our customers as we move forward.”

Opening a Lithuanian office is further proof of the forward-thinking nature of B4B Payments, who endeavour to bring the best payment processing solutions consistently to the market.

Edoardo Volta, Head of Fintech, UK & Ireland, Mastercard commented “We are delighted to be expanding our relationship with B4B Payments as they continue to innovate in the commercial space. Our worldwide acceptance network and solid experience in the Fintech space will ensure we are able to support their global ambitions and future success.”

How to avoid invoice fraud

According to UK Finance, UK business lost a total of £93 million in 2018 to invoice fraud, with the average payment to fraudsters being £20,750. To help you avoid losing potentially thousands of pounds, we’ve put together a list of things that you can do to avoid invoice fraud.

Scrutinise all invoices

It’s extremely important for you to scrutinise all of the invoices that you receive. The differences between a false invoice and a real one will be subtle, but if you look closely, you should be able to identify a fake. Common indicators of a fake invoice include a different phone number or contact name for correspondence, a change in payment methods, changes in the amount to be invoiced, a new signature, blurred logos, the addition to bank details that didn’t appear previously and email addresses with small changes.

Listen to your instincts

This might seem trivial, but it is important to listen to your instincts when analysing invoices. If an invoice does not seem genuine, it is probably a good idea to take a closer look at it. In order to stay in control of your payments, try and be more confident when refusing payments or unexpected information requests so that you don’t end up making a mistake under pressure. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Don’t click suspicious links

This is a general rule of thumb for using the internet, but in order to avoid invoice fraud, never click on the links that appear in an unexpected text or email. Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated than ever and it is now incredibly easy to create email addresses that look genuine upon first glance, but if you look closely, you might notice that certain names or words in the address are spelt incorrectly.

Check on suppliers

Fake invoices are often issued under a legitimate name with a fake bank account number or email address or under a false business name. When you’re taking on a new supplier, it’s a good idea to do your research into their business to ensure that they are legitimate and to search for their business address on Google maps. If their address is a PO box or a residential address, this could indicate that they are committing fraud. Where possible, if your existing suppliers get in touch claiming that they are changing their bank account or address, contact them directly to make sure.

Conduct multiple-stage authorisation

If you have the staff capability, it’s a good idea to hold multiple people responsible for the authorisation of payments. You could give the department or person associated with the expenditure responsibility for authorising the payment. The more people you have on hand to check each invoice, the more likely it is that someone will spot something suspicious.

If you’re looking to take control of your company spending in a secure and safe manner, get in touch with our expert team at B4B Payments today.

Tags Accounting, Cashless, CFO Advice, payments, prepaid, prepaid business cards

Insights Newsroom Tools & Guides

How to be a top performing CFO

If you are currently a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or hoping to secure a CFO role for yourself, you may be wondering how to be the best, top-performing CFO possible. Below we outline just some of the skills and characteristics a CFO should have to ensure they bring as much value as possible to their organisation.

1. Transparency

It is important a CFO knows how to create and maintain a trusting, transparent environment. The financial status and figures of a business are an essential element of its foundation. If a CFO is able to be transparent about the financial position of its company, it helps to build trust and ensures all departments and employees are working on the same page towards the same goals.

2. Communication

While it may seem obvious to say that a CFO should have good communication skills, simply being able to communicate well is not enough for a CFO. A CFO should have a flexible communication style that allows them to adjust their communication techniques when working with different departments or individuals. Throughout the course of a day, a CFO may need to communicate with subordinates, board members, business partners, suppliers and the media, making a flexible communication style essential to ensure they can build strong, lasting relationships with everyone they communicate with.

3. Solution-orientated

In a leadership position, such as a CFO, many people will look to you for business solutions, not problems. For this reason, a CFO must adopt a solution-orientated attitude and not fall into the habit of being rule or compliance-orientated, as this can limit the effectiveness of their decisions.

4. Teamwork

Many managers and those in a leadership position may think teamwork is a basic skill that everyone should have mastered in adulthood. In reality, however, it can be difficult for many CFOs to be able to adapt their understanding of teamwork in a leadership position. As a CFO, it is your responsibility to build and strengthen your team. For this reason, a CFO should never look to shine individually or expect personal praise, they should focus their time and energy on ensuring their team is as functional and efficient as possible, rewarding them rather than looking for individual praise.

5. Innovation

As a CFO, you have the power to make innovative financial decisions and revolutionise your department. For example, a CFO could introduce prepaid business cards that save their financial team significant time and money. The CFO must choose where to include innovation carefully, to ensure these changes help improve the efficiency of their company.

If you’d like to learn more about how prepaid business card solutions could benefit CFOs, do not hesitate to get in touch with B4B Payments today. We ensure CFOs can keep control over corporate expenses in one, convenient platform, ensuring to improve the efficiency of their department. For more information, contact B4B Payments.

The Pros (and cons) of being a cashless organisation.

It’s not uncommon for businesses to question whether they should adopt a cashless policy or not. Recent global events, such as the coronavirus pandemic, have led to an increase in credit and debit card payments. Digital wallet services like Apple Pay are also experiencing exponential growth, as increasing numbers of consumers and vendors embrace cashless payments.

However, in some industries – particularly in business-to-business environments such as wholesalers or supply merchants – cash is still commonplace. This article covers the pros and cons of switching to a cashless payments model and is designed to help you to determine whether going cashless is the right solution for you.

The pros of adapting a cashless policy

Save time – and money!

While businesses are expected to pay fees on credit card transactions, it’s worth noting that processing cash sales can take much longer. Ultimately, the time spent processing physical cash transactions could be better spent elsewhere. With cashless transactions, you’ll spend less time making trips to the bank, counting cash at the end of the day, and entering cash transactions into your accounting software.

Increased efficiency

A simple tap or swipe of a prepaid business card, credit card, debit card or mobile phone is much more efficient than giving out petty cash. If your business frequently experiences last minute or on-the-spot purchase needs, you may find that a cash-free solution helps to alleviate backlog in accounting.

Easier accounting and money management

If you’re frequently spending time poring over transactions while trying to determine why your expenses aren’t tallying correctly, it’s time to think about going cashless. With a cashless solution from B4B Payments, each transaction is tracked and receipt uploads are a breeze with the mobile app. This makes accounting more accurate and increases efficiency in the workplace.

Reduced risk

If your business keeps cash on the premises, you’ll always be vulnerable to theft. By switching to a cashless policy, you’ll improve the physical security of your staff and customers. Cashless transactions are also more hygienic – and your team and vendors will value this in a post-pandemic world.

Enhanced expense management

Going cashless isn’t all about finances coming in – it concerns your outgoings, too. Whether you’re purchasing from suppliers or covering the corporate expenses of field agents and reps, your expenses are easily tracked and managed when you go cashless.

Access valuable data

Cashless transactions generate a multitude of valuable consumer information. This data allows you to analyse the purchasing trends and spending habits of your card recipients and employees, which can be used to improve your financial strategy.

Cons of adopting a cashless policy

Increased card fees

One of the biggest bugbears for small-medium enterprises is the dreaded card transaction fee. To combat this, some companies factor card fees into their pricing structure, which could mean having to slightly increase the amount you charge your customers for your products.

*Pro tip- Read the fine print. Many prepaid card programmes offer cheaper rates from the outset, with hidden fees or margins on FX rates for transactions. Ω`

Some people prefer cash

For some organisations depending on who you’re distributing your cards to, cash is still king. In particular, older recipients of funds, are more accustomed to paying with cash and could feel alienated by your decision to adopt a totally cashless policy.

Is going cashless right for your business?

There are a lot of variables to consider before going cashless. Businesses in certain industries might benefit from going completely cashless, while others might still want to hold out before no longer utilising cash payments.

Whether you’re ready to take the plunge or not, having a cashless payment solution can certainly increase efficiency, provide you with better understanding of where your money is going, and streamline your accounting process. If you’d like more information, why not contact us to find out how B4B Payments could transform your fund disbursement today?