Mastercard is rolling out two new products designed to make business-to-business (B2B) transactions simpler, more efficient, and easier to control, aiming to bring consumer-level ease to the corporate payment space.
The company introduced the Commercial Connect API and a new clearing controls feature to address rising demand for modern, streamlined payment solutions.
According to Mastercard, 69% of companies face challenges integrating payment and business systems, while 77% of CFOs plan to increase technology spending in 2025.
Virtual cards, which help reduce fraud risk and improve cash flow, continue to drive interest in embedded payment tools.
The Commercial Connect API offers a single, scalable connection to Mastercard’s issuer ecosystem and commercial payment capabilities, simplifying how B2B platforms embed payment features.
Launching with its virtual card platform in 2025, the API is designed to speed up integration and give companies more flexibility to use their existing commercial card credit lines within the tools they already use.
Pay4You will be the first to adopt it to enhance spend management for European corporations, with additional B2B capabilities planned for next year.
“We are committed to empowering enterprise growth around the world through smarter, digital-first solutions.
By enhancing access to our commercial payments technology and unlocking more sophisticated virtual card controls, our goal is for payments to be so seamless and secure they fade into the background — freeing organisations to focus on what truly matters: growth, innovation, and people.”
said Marc Pettican, Global Head of Corporate Solutions, Mastercard.
Mastercard also introduced clearing controls, a first-of-its-kind capability that extends issuer and corporate oversight across the full transaction lifecycle.
The feature allows card issuers to apply rules such as spending limits and merchant category restrictions at the clearing stage, blocking non-compliant transactions before settlement to reduce chargebacks and improve reconciliation.
It will be particularly relevant in sectors such as B2B travel, which sees some of the highest average chargeback values, according to Mastercard’s 2025 State of Chargebacks Report. Global rollout is planned for 2026.
Building on its embedded virtual card number (VCN) program launched in March 2025, Mastercard is expanding integrations with SAP Concur, SAP Taulia, Pay4You, Grasp Technologies, and Kresus.
The aim is to give more corporates access to advanced virtual card features such as real-time transaction notifications, granular controls, and improved reconciliation.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Freepik
