Mastercard Expands Virtual Card Platform With New Issuer Controls | LeapRate

Mastercard said Thursday that it has expanded its virtual card platform, adding issuer-level security controls, wider embedded payments capabilities and a single connection point into its partner network.

The enhancements to Mastercard In Control, the company’s virtual card number platform, are said to be intended to help enterprises, financial institutions and platforms run virtual card programmes with greater security and scale. 

Mastercard said its VCN ecosystem now spans issuers, direct platforms and corporates transacting across 43 countries and 174 currencies.

Two capabilities sit at the centre of the update, with Issuer Enforced Controls, a new feature, applies at the point of virtual card number creation and allows issuers to set baseline guardrails such as spend limits, transaction limit caps and validity periods. 

Clearing Controls, introduced last year, extend control validation beyond authorisation into the clearing stage, allowing corporates and platforms to block invalid transactions and manage payment timing more precisely.

Citi is already live with both and is expected to be the first issuer to roll out the capabilities globally later this year.

“As payments become more digitized and embedded into business workflows, expectations for performance, security and control are higher than ever,” said Marc Pettican, global head of corporate solutions at Mastercard.

“As virtual card adoption accelerates, our clients need smarter, stronger tools to manage risk,” said Scott Southall, global head of Citi Commercial Cards and Domestic Payments.

Mastercard also updated its Commercial Connect API, enabling multiple control sets at the real card level and combining virtual card creation and payment initiation into a single step. 

The company said fraud rates on virtual cards are less than one-fifth those on non-virtual cards.