Expensify has launched its Visa Commercial Card in the UK and a set of European markets including Spain, Ireland, Poland and the Netherlands, a product previously available only in the US. Expensify is a US expense and spend management platform, founded in 2008 and listed on Nasdaq, used by finance teams to capture receipts, run expense reports and reconcile spending into their accounting systems. The European card is built fully on top of Marqeta, the card issuing platform Expensify already uses in the US. Businesses can issue physical and virtual cards to staff and manage the spending inside the Expensify platform, where transactions appear in real time, receipts are matched automatically, VAT is tracked for local reporting, and controls block out-of-policy purchases at the point of sale. Employees spend on the card during the month, and the balance is collected in full from the company's own business account at the end of the month (likely via direct debit).
Marqeta on both continents, in different roles
It is pretty common for spend management platforms like Expensify to offer card products, and arguably, Expensify was one of the first movers in the US when it launched the product in 2019. Thus, the expansion to Europe was long overdue, and Expensify was actually able to build it with fewer partners in Europe. In the US, Expensify works with Marqeta as an issuer processor and Bancorp Bank as the regulated partner and card issuer. Due to the licensing situation in the US, there is no way around working with a bank.
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In Europe, it is a bit easier since e-money licences allow functionality like card issuing and payment accounts. When Marqeta expanded to Europe in 2018, it partnered with such regulated companies, but since it acquired Transact Payments last year, it can now offer the full stack. This is the setup Expensify chose: holding no European licence of its own and taking the whole regulated stack from one provider.
Why credit cannot roll over
With the European version of the Expensify Card, businesses can spend during the month and settle the outstanding balance at the end of the month. However, they always have to settle the full balance, and there is no option to roll over credit into the next month. That's not a surprise and comes down to the setup. An e-money institution, like Transact Payments, can only grant credit that is ancillary to a payment transaction and short-term. If Expensify wishes to offer a revolving credit line, it would need a different setup and a partner that holds a credit institution licence, or a national lending licence in the markets that offer one.
