Abacus International, Asia’s leading travel facilitator, is working with Visa, the world’s largest retail electronic payments network, to enable Abacus-connected travel agents to develop new corporate client relationships and a more efficient method of managing their cash flow. Through a centrally-billed ‘virtual account’ called Visa Central Travel Account, companies enjoy greater billing flexibility, and spend visibility through Visa reports that feature enhanced data which is provided by Abacus-connected travel agencies.

The Visa Central Travel Account will give Abacus-connected travel agencies better prospects of being nominated as a designated corporate travel agency by companies that use the Visa Central Travel Account.

Abacus International Vice-President Marketing, Brett Henry said, “This product is designed specifically to meet the business needs of both travel agents and corporate travellers. The value for Abacus-connected travel agencies is that their businesses can enjoy improved cash flow through faster revenue turnaround as they may be paid up to 90% faster by merchant banks.”

“In some markets, travel agents can recover their revenues charged to the Visa Central Travel Account within three working days instead of the traditional 30 days credit cycle that is associated with the manual processing of cash and cheques. With Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) payment terms shortened to between one and seven days, travel agents in this program will be able to better meet their payment obligations.”

In addition, with Abacus PowerSuite being certified to generate enhanced data in Visa’s required format, Abacus-connected travel agencies do not have to go through the certification process with Visa individually, making it a hassle-free process for them to provide enhanced data that is compliant with the Visa-required format. For added convenience, any updates to the Visa Global Travel Agent specifications will be incorporated into the program by Abacus.

Bruce Mansfield, Regional Head of Visa Commercial Solutions, Asia Pacific said, “Abacus is widely recognised as a leading travel facilitator in the region and we are confident that working with them will bring valued travel-related benefits to our corporate clients across different countries and territories.”