Mastercard is pioneering a future where consumer-grade simplicity can be the norm for B2B payments. As consumers, we book a ride or order a coffee, and the payment for these services is seamlessly embedded.
Today, Mastercard is introducing two new innovations – Commercial Connect API and clearing controls – to accelerate that same intuitive ease and unlock enhanced controls across B2B transactions.
As companies face growing pressure to operate smarter and stay resilient, the demand for modernized payments is rising. With 77% of CFOs planning to boost technology spending in 2025, many are turning to turnkey solutions, like virtual cards, for their ability to integrate into existing workflows, streamline payment processes, reduce fraud risk, and improve cash flow. It’s why Mastercard continues to enhance its virtual card platform and scale embedded payment experiences to meet increasing demand and evolving corporate needs.
“We are committed to empowering enterprise growth around the world through smarter, digital-first solutions,” said Marc Pettican, global head of Corporate Solutions, Mastercard. “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.”
One connection, multiple possibilities: Introducing Commercial Connect API
With 69% of companies struggling to integrate payment and business systems, Mastercard is solving a critical gap in the industry by introducing Commercial Connect API to unlock the full potential of embedded finance for B2B payments.
The solution will address industry-wide challenges of expanding services requiring multiple APIs by simplifying integration even further through one, scalable connection. B2B platforms will accelerate go-to-market timelines for embedding payments through one front door to Mastercard’s issuer ecosystem and commercial payment capabilities, starting with the company’s innovative virtual card platform in 2025. With faster integrations, platforms can enable more corporate customers to utilize their commercial card programs — and associated credit lines through their banks — directly within the tools they already use regularly.
Mastercard plans to drop additional B2B payment capabilities through Commercial Connect API next year to provide even more choice and flexibility in how businesses pay across platforms. Pay4You will be the first to leverage the new API, further streamlining access to Mastercard’s virtual card platform to deliver enhanced tail spend management to corporations across Europe.
Turning operational control into a competitive advantage
Mastercard is also announcing clearing controls, a first of its kind capability that enables issuers to enforce controls on virtual card transactions through clearing. This builds on the existing controls available through Mastercard’s virtual card platform at authorization, extending issuer and corporate oversight across the full transaction lifecycle.
By applying targeted controls - such as transaction limits and merchant category code restrictions - at the clearing stage, issuers can proactively block non-compliant transactions before settlement, thereby reducing chargebacks, improving reconciliation and bringing even greater trust to virtual card payments.
This new capability will support a range of use cases, especially within B2B travel, with travel and hospitality services reportedly having the highest average chargeback value across all industries, according to Mastercard’s 2025 state of chargebacks report.1 Global availability of clearing controls for issuers and their corporate customers is planned for 2026.
Empowering enterprise growth for B2B platforms
To fast-track the next era of commercial payment innovation, Mastercard is expanding on its embedded virtual card number (VCN) program, announced in March 2025, with integrations across enterprise resource planning, procurement and expense management platforms including SAP Concur, SAP Taulia, Pay4You, Grasp Technologies, Kresus, among several others.
With more partners joining Mastercard’s program to accelerate embedded virtual card technology, more corporate customers will be able to quickly benefit from Mastercard's cutting-edge VCN capabilities, including enhanced data reconciliation, granular authorization controls and real-time transaction notifications.
Just like embedded payments make consumer experiences seamless, Mastercard and its partners are powering the integrated technology behind corporate payments that promises greater speed, simplicity, and automation in every B2B transaction.
Hear from our partners
"Contracting and onboarding processes are a big part of doing business globally, but their cumulative impact often bogs down speed to market," said Kirby Montgomery, VP of Product, SAP Taulia. "Mastercard’s new embedded virtual card number program is a breakthrough in process and technology, so that as the demand for virtual cards continues to scale around the world, the behind-the-scenes process keeps pace with the rollout of seamless virtual cards numbers through SAP and Mastercard issuing banks."
“We are deeply committed to helping corporations modernize and simplify their payment operations,” said Lourens Stamhuis, CEO & Co-Founder, Pay4You, “By leveraging Mastercard's latest advances in embedded commercial payments, we’ll be able to deliver faster access to virtual card capabilities, thereby empowering more corporations with smarter tools to manage their tail spend and drive financial efficiency.”