Deloitte Travelers Testing Computerized Corporate Card

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Deloitte Travelers Testing Computerized Corporate Card

MAY 27, 2009 -- Five hundred frequent travelers from Deloitte in the United Kingdom are piloting a computerized corporate payment card that also provides secure remote access to the Deloitte virtual private network for e-mails and downloading internal documents.

The Visa Corporate Barclaycard, which incorporates technology from an Australian company called EMUE, has a normal card appearance on one side but features a built-in display screen and keypad on the other. Cardholders use the keypad to input their personal identification number. The card responds by displaying a passcode that the cardholder then taps into their laptop or other computer to access the Deloitte VPN.

Deloitte is acting as guinea pig for the technology because its Australian business has a financial stake in EMUE. It also is an adviser on payment services to Barclaycard and Visa, as well as a client of the two businesses.

Stephen Ley, a partner in Deloitte UK's payment practice, said the card offers three key benefits: cost savings, portability and security. He claimed that even in its early stages of development, the EMUE card is 65 percent cheaper than issuing employees with stand-alone token devices for remote network access.

"It means we can have just one issuing cycle for both corporate card and a network access token," Ley said. "It is more expensive than a normal corporate card but a lot cheaper than a token.

"So far, the three-month pilot, which started in April, is going very well," Ley said. "The number of calls to our help desk has been extremely low and the feedback very positive."

Ley said this is the first corporate card pilot in the world for EMUE technology, although separate trials are being conducted in the consumer sector. Barclaycard already operates a similar cardholder authentication concept among its U.K. consumer cardholders through a calculator-sized device called PINsentry, used to verify payments made online. Ley said an EMUE card could be used for a similar purpose. It also could be used for communications between cardholders and their bank, whether by phone or online, to authenticate the identity of both parties.

Ley said Barclaycard intends to roll out the card to other corporate customers, and Visa will introduce it to other issuers.

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