Worldpay has announced a new partnership with Mastercard to provide virtual cards to travel agents in the UK and continental Europe.

The move aims to improve the process of managing payments to suppliers, including airlines, hoteliers, and other travel services providers.

The initiative is facilitated through the Mastercard Wholesale Program, which provides virtual card payment solutions for the global travel industry.

Worldpay, which processes 50 billion transactions across 146 countries annually, said that it would also drive “innovation, transparency and flexibility” in B2B payments after becoming the first provider to offer Mastercard’s dynamic product code capability, allowing travel agents and travel suppliers to agree mutually beneficial terms.

The company says that its new virtual card provides an additional piece to its end-to-end payment proposition for the entire travel industry, adding that it will give travel agents a single method to make payments across more than a dozen currencies.

Wordpay currently serves more than 130 airlines, processing over $100 billion worth of transactions for the travel industry last year.

“Working with Mastercard to deliver value across the entire travel ecosystem through this virtual card programme, we will be able to help travel agents realise new efficiencies in their payments processes while increasing travel supplier virtual card acceptance through more transparent and data-driven practices," said Nabil Manji, head of FinTech growth & financial partnerships at Worldpay.

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