TL;DR

• Virtual card adoption is rapidly accelerating, with SMBs driving much of the growth—but many still lack access to solutions tailored to their needs.
• Extend and Bank of Montreal (BMO) are bridging that gap by bringing virtual card capabilities to BMO’s Corporate Card clients across North America.
• Through the Extend for BMO app, businesses can instantly create, distribute, and manage virtual cards in English or French without switching banks.
• This partnership empowers SMBs to gain better control, visibility, and automation in spend management while enhancing security and reducing friction.
• With Extend’s API, companies can embed virtual card functionality into their own systems, streamlining workflows and closing books faster each month.

‍

Virtual cards mean endless possibilities for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and it seems these companies know it. According to a recent Juniper Research report, virtual card charge volume is expected to more than triple by 2027, with business payments accounting for most of the spending. However, even though the demand for more innovative payment solutions continues to rise, a notable accessibility gap persists in the industry. Both consumers and large enterprises have been traditionally well served, but small and mid-market businesses (SMBs) remain hungry for payment innovation that fits their needs. Many SMBs want flexibility, simplicity, security, and stability - AND they want to keep the bank they already know and trust. Delivering on that demand starts with making virtual cards a feature of every company card in circulation, globally, and in localized experiences. We’re moving closer toward that goal with our recent announcement from our new partner bank, Bank of Montreal (BMO). 

Extend goes international, enters Canada with newest partner

As we recently announced, Bank of Montreal (BMO) is joining Extend in this effort by adding new payment functionalities to its Corporate Card program. As the first issuer to provide Extend capabilities in Canada, BMO is bringing virtual card distribution and better spend management to its commercial clients across North America. Through this collaboration, BMO offers its customers the ability to create, distribute, and manage virtual cards, allowing them to solve many of the spend management challenges SMBs face, like empowering employees, paying vendors, tracking spending, automating reconciliation, and simplifying bookkeeping. This can all be easily done via the Extend for BMO app, which users can access in both English and French on iOS, Android, and the web. 

Better spend management across borders, in your local language

Offering Extend to BMO’s Commercial clients has been an opportunity to pave the way to global payment innovation across borders and in multiple languages and currencies.

By registering and using Extend, SMBs can immediately gain an array of capabilities from their existing cards, like issuing unlimited virtual cards, setting spend limits and expiration dates, and added visibility to reduce friction and fuel better spend management in their businesses. 

Additionally, tech-savvy businesses can bring these capabilities to life in their own business applications with Extend's customizable API. Businesses can streamline finance processes and optimize core business functions by employing instant transaction matching, strict security controls, and high-volume virtual card issuance support. With less friction in their existing systems, finance leaders can close the books confidently and quickly every month. 

Danielle Mazzurco, Senior Manager, North American Corporate Card Products at BMO, told us, "Our ability to provide Extend virtual card capabilities to our existing clients fulfills a milestone toward payment innovation at BMO. We look forward to hitting even more milestones as this initiative expands, empowering our entire customer base to digitize and automate finance processes through the Extend for BMO app."

Learn more