Mastercard announced two innovations — Commercial Connect API and clearing controls – – to accelerate the same intuitive ease consumers have and unlock enhanced controls across B2B transactions.
Marc Pettican, global head of corporate solutions, said, “We are committed to empowering enterprise growth around the world through smarter, digital-first solutions.” By enhancing access to its commercial payments technology and unlocking more sophisticated virtual card controls, he said, “our goal is for payments to be so seamless and secure they fade into the background — freeing organizations to focus on what truly matters: growth, innovation, and people.”
Commercial Connect API, said the announcement, will address industry-wide challenges of expanding services requiring multiple APIs by simplifying integration even further through one, scalable connection. B2B platforms will accelerate go-to-market timelines for embedding payments through one front door to Mastercard’s issuer ecosystem and commercial payment capabilities, starting with the company’s virtual card platform in 2025. With faster integrations, said the announcement, platforms can enable more corporate customers to utilize their commercial card programs — and associated credit lines through their banks — directly within the tools they already use regularly.
The clearing controls, according to Mastercard, are a first of their kind capability that enable issuers to enforce controls on virtual card transactions through clearing. This builds on the existing controls available through Mastercard’s virtual card platform at authorization, extending issuer and corporate oversight across the full transaction lifecycle.
By applying targeted controls – such as transaction limits and merchant category code restrictions – at the clearing stage, said the announcement, issuers can proactively block non-compliant transactions before settlement, thereby reducing chargebacks, improving reconciliation and bringing even greater trust to virtual card payments.
This new capability will support a range of use cases, said the announcement, especially within B2B travel, with travel and hospitality services reportedly having the highest average chargeback value across all industries, according to Mastercard’s 2025 state of chargebacks report.
