eNett to Offer Virtual Account Numbers to Travel Agents in Singapore

Agencies looking for more efficient supplier payment methods are driving the global uptake of virtual cards, around 100 Singapore agencies and airline executives learnt at a Travelport and eNett industry seminar held at the Fullerton Hotel on Thursday.

eNett International - a joint venture between Travelport and PSP International - is introducing its innovative Virtual Account Numbers (VANs) to travel agencies of all sizes in Singapore.

Following phenomenal growth in Europe, eNett VANs allow greater access to cutting edge payment solutions traditionally only available to larger players.

A VAN is an automatically generated 16-digit MasterCard number for each booking transaction, making reconciliation simple for everybody in the value chain.

eNett Managing Director and CEO, Anthony Hynes, a keynote speaker at the seminar, said VANs are driven by the emerging needs of agencies who are looking for more content and the best ways to access them.

“Current trends show that agencies are demanding access to dynamic content that require immediate payments,” he said.  “If an agency only makes supplier payments by cash, cheque or debit, they might not be able to access a range of content that gives their customers the best rates, including net-commission rates. Or, if they pay by corporate cards or store cards, they might incur significant reconciliation issues, together with opaque foreign exchange and international transaction fees.”

VANs are about simplifying supplier payments, making it safer and faster for agents to respond to customer needs in an evolving travel environment.

“One of the top features that agents looked for when adopting virtual cards is their ability to integrate within the booking flow in order to reduce handling times and deliver reconciliation efficiencies. VANs fulfill this need by offering seamless integration and can even be generated from within the Travelport GDS, eliminating the need to cut and paste between systems,” said Mr Hynes.

During the seminar, he listed 10 reasons why VANs would transform an agency: from protection against supplier default; to reducing costs in manual reconciliation; reducing foreign exchange exposure; and the opportunity to earn a rebate on transactions.

“For an average agency transacting Sin$ 30 million a year, VANs could help save up to $95,000 in manual processing and $150,000 in cross border fees, while providing up to $150,000 in rebates,” said Mr Hynes, adding that eNett helped one online travel agency recover about $1.7 million in 2012 when Wind Jet collapsed in Europe.

VAN payments are available in 27 currencies, 15 of which can be settled locally, including Singapore Dollars. eNett’s partners provide transparent and competitive foreign exchange rates in real-time, providing price certainty at the time of booking.