Corporates in the Asia Pacific region are increasingly mandating the use of commercial cards for all eligible purchases as they migrate from more traditional payment tools, Citi's Asia Pacific Commercial Cards Survey 2018 shows.

Findings reveal that corporates are expanding commercial card programs to alternative flows, including meetings and events, and procurement, for increased visibility of flows, centralized controls and governance, heightened efficiencies and improvements in operational strategies.

The study, the first by Citi with a focus on corporate clients in Asia Pacific, found that clients in the region had increased their commercial card spend by over 24% in 2017. Business-to-business (B2B) spend followed suit, increasing by close to 50% over the same period.

Commenting on the results of the findings, Deven Somaya, Citi's head of commercial cards for Asia Pacific, treasury & trade solutions says, "The expanding use of commercial cards by corporates in the region corresponds to the increasing focus on digital and technology. As business operations become more complex, corporates want solutions that are simple and digital to optimize efficiencies."

Polling 46 decision makers from over 40 corporates in the region across a range of industries, the survey's findings are being released in conjunction with Citi's Asia Pacific Commercial Payments Summit 2018, which opened in Singapore this morning.

Already, 76% of clients polled have mandated the use of corporate cards for travel expenses. The survey also found that of the 36% of corporate clients without a procurement card or Virtual Card Account (VCA) program, over half are now planning to adopt commercial cards to replace Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions, checks and other payment methods.