Mastercard has partnered with South African payments platform Glyde Payments to introduce a virtual card solution aimed at simplifying supplier payments for travel businesses across Southern Africa. The solution, powered by the Mastercard Wholesale Program, allows travel agencies and intermediaries to generate a unique Virtual Card Number (VCN) for each booking and supplier transaction.
The launch marks the first issuance of a Mastercard Wholesale Program card in Southern Africa, extending the programme’s virtual payment capabilities to the region’s travel industry. It is designed to give businesses greater control over payments by allowing them to set transaction limits based on the amount, merchant and period of use.
The solution also aims to improve transaction visibility, simplify payment reconciliation, support faster settlement and reduce the risk of fraud and chargebacks. By streamlining cross-border supplier payments, it is expected to help travel businesses manage working capital more effectively and strengthen relationships with suppliers.
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Darryl Adriaanzen, Mastercard’s Country Manager for Southern Africa, said the collaboration would provide travel companies with a more secure, transparent and efficient way to pay suppliers globally. He noted that the solution brings the Mastercard Wholesale Program to a market where travel businesses increasingly need payment tools suited to their operations.
The Mastercard Wholesale Program is designed specifically for business-to-business travel payments and has facilitated payments to more than 400,000 suppliers across multiple countries. Glyde has also integrated international transaction compliance and reporting capabilities into its platform to support more transparent cross-border payments.
Paulina Klotzbücher, CEO of Glyde Payments, said the partnership combines the company’s travel payments platform with Mastercard’s global payment network. She added that travel businesses across Southern Africa would be able to issue virtual cards for individual transactions while gaining greater control, reporting and compliance capabilities.
The collaboration forms part of Mastercard’s wider efforts to modernise business-to-business travel payments, building on similar partnerships in Europe and other markets. It extends virtual card capabilities to Southern Africa, where travel businesses can use the technology to improve the management of supplier payments.
