We’re two days away from Christmas, but that doesn’t mean the speed of business slows down. The accounts payable world last week enjoyed several new developments, as you’ll see below. The European Parliament decided to excuse commercial cards from upcoming interchange caps, a former vice-governor of the Chinese central bank said she thinks Bitcoin and fiat currencies can co-exist, and New York City’s comptroller is moving toward reforming the city’s invoicing system. That’s just a taste of the roundup though—read on for more.
European Parliament Yields, OKs Corporate Card Exemption from Interchange Fee Cap
Business Travel News reported last week that the European Parliament announced it wouldn’t seek interchange-fee caps for commercial cards. This exempts commercial cards from a forthcoming cap on interchange fees the EU will put into place on consumer cards; without the exception, interchange fees on commercial cards would drop from 1.5% on average to a maximum of 0.3%. Read the full article at http://www.businesstravelnews.com/Business-Globalization/European-Parliament-Yields,-OKs-Corporate-Card-Exemption-From-Interchange-Fee-Cap/?ida=Government&a=trans.
BT Looks Beyond Borders For U.K. Travelers’ Corporate Card Service
Also in Business Travel News is a look at BT Group’s corporate travel card program six years after the British telecom company decided to work with Germany-based AirPlus International instead of using a UK-based card provider. The long and short of it is that, since implementing AirPlus in 2008, BT Group has enjoyed significant efficiencies in their corporate travel card program. Take a look at http://www.businesstravelnews.com/Expense-Management/BT-Looks-Beyond-Borders-For-U-K–Travelers–Corporate-Card-Service/?a=mgmt.
How Millennials and Mobile are Changing Travel
Walter Isenberg, co-founder of Sage Hospitality, writes in the Denver Business Journal about how the millennial generation of workers—with their extensive use of mobile—have and will bring change to the business travel landscape. Isenberg argues that legacy providers of business travel, and in particular hotels, need to make sure they’re friendly to new technologies and new methods in order to stay competitive. Isenberg names TripIt, Concur’s mobile-app powerhouse, as one of the tools millennials use in high numbers to create their business travel plans. Read the full article at http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/how-to/technology/2014/12/how-millennials-and-mobile-are-changing-travel.html?page=all.
Stringer, Sans Mayor, Pushes for Invoicing Reform
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer sent a request for information (RFI) to technology vendors, reports Crain’s New York Business, in a bid to reform the city’s invoicing system. New York’s invoicing is highly paper-based, Stringer has said, which creates a huge problem for vendors doing business with the city. Crain’s also reports that Stringer put out the RFI in absence of cooperation from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, which means the comptroller’s office appears to be trying to take the lead on certain tech policy questions. Read the full article at http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20141205/BLOGS04/141209896/stringer-sans-mayor-pushes-for-invoicing-reform.
Recall Rejects A$2.2 Billion Takeover From Iron Mountain
Recall Holdings rejected a $2.2 billion takeover offer from Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) last week. Recall’s leadership argued the offer from the U.S.-based document-management provider was far too low and undervalued the company. Bloomberg reports that Recall’s major shareholders supported the unanimous rejection of the offer by the company’s board. Boston-based Iron Mountain could save roughly $250 million in efficiencies from the acquisition, which would also give it a 70% share of the U.S. and UK document-management markets and a 51% share of the Australian market. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-14/recall-rejects-a-2-2-billion-takeover-bid-from-iron-mountain.html.
Chinese Official: Bitcoin Can ‘Co-exist’ with Fiat Currencies
In a bit of a surprise last week, a former vice-governor of China’s central bank came out with the view that digital currencies such as Bitcoin could operate concurrently with traditional, or “fiat,” currencies. Coindesk reported that, in comments at the Sanya International Finance Forum in China, former bank vice-governor Wu Xialong said that currency competition is a normal phenomenon in human history and that acceptance of digital currencies depend on stable pricing and industry participation among other things. Read the full article at https://www.coindesk.com/chinese-official-bitcoin-can-co-exist-fiat-currencies/.
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