2008 Articles
8 November 2008
Commercial Payments International
More network competition?
This week, the payment network Universal Air Travel Plan indicated that it is considering expanding its existing merchant network in 2009 to both hotels and car rental vendors. (At present, over 240 airlines and travel agencies accept UATP for air travel, service fees, management fees and net fares payment.) It believes the time may be right to make such a move as so many companies are looking for ways to cut costs. Merchants are usually charged lower service fees by UATP than by other corporate card networks. If UATP proceeds with this strategy, it would represent more competition for the existing dominant payment networks such as MasterCard and Visa. UATP is already a significant payment network as far as airline payments go – the organization is expecting its charge volume to reach $12 billion in 2008, with further growth predicted for next year.
Article in Commercial Payments International
