MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--U.S. Bank will begin to issue commercial cards for corporate clients in Europe in mid-2011. This will give North America-based multinational customers of U.S. Bank the opportunity to extend their U.S. Bank Corporate Card programs to employees of their European operations and easily aggregate global spending data.
“Increasingly, our North American-based multinational clients want consolidated worldwide reporting of data for rapid analysis of commercial card use,” said Kurt Adams, senior vice president of strategy and product at U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems. “They also want their card programs to fall under a single global contract with a single point of approval and a single service contact. By issuing our own corporate cards internationally, we’ll be in an excellent position to serve them.”
Elavon Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank parent company U.S. Bancorp, will issue the cards. The main focus initially will be to issue cards to customers in the U.K. and Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Additional European countries will follow quickly to meet customer demand. The bank initially plans to offer settlement options in euro and British pound sterling and will support its customer language requirements in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The cards will meet European technology standards, including full Chip-and-PIN capability. Alan Gibson, director of European commercial payments for U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems, is overseeing the activities and the ongoing product strategy. Former director of commercial cards for TSYS Europe, Gibson couples commercial payment expertise with local market knowledge. He is based in the United Kingdom.
U.S. Bank will continue to participate in the Global Commercial Payment Solutions (GCPS) network to serve customers outside its own issuing footprint following the launch of U.S. Bank commercial cards in Europe. GCPS is a joint venture of Visa and several card issuing banks.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $308 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2010, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 3,069 banking offices in 25 states and 5,310 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.