Best corporate credit cards for small business in 2023
The use of corporate credit cards has been constantly growing across Singaporean businesses for a while now.
GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, forecasts that Singapore’s credit and charge card payment market is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% between 2021-2025 to reach SGD80.6 billion ($59.8 billion) in 2025.
Incidentally, as the market demand for corporate credit cards has grown so has the supply. In today’s day, there are several banks and individual payment service providers to choose from when deciding which is the best corporate credit card for small business.
What is a corporate credit card?
Generally speaking, a corporate credit card is essentially a card that is intended to be used solely for expenses related to business purposes.
This includes purchases like business dinners, airline trips, and accommodations for business travel. They are used by companies to streamline business spending.
Corporate credit cards tend to have a credit limit that is higher than those of normal credit cards. Additionally, corporate cards come with lucrative incentives and deals like cash back or points, shopping vouchers, travel miles, as well as complimentary insurance on travel.
How does a corporate credit card work?
The process of getting a corporate credit card starts with an issuer assessing your firm’s credit history and financial stability. On the card, the business or the employee’s name with appear once the process of approval is complete.
The business will pay for all spending done with the card while the employee will be given a credit card number.
Corporate credit cards, much like personal credit cards, can be used at counters or for purchases made online during business travel.These cards present an efficient tool that companies can use to pay for employees’ business expenses.
The payments that are made via these corporate cards get registered on the card statements of the company. This ensures that the company can access and track card usage while the employees’ funds remain untouched.
5 Best corporate credit cards for small business in Singapore
Citi corporate card
Offered by Citibank, the Citi corporate card is an excellent choice for small and medium-sized businesses that frequently need to travel for business.
This card offers a single card-based solution for all your business expenses. It streamlines the expense handling process so that you’re neither strapped for cash nor burdened with excessive paperwork.
Additionally, it has a suite of three unique liability types, each with its cashback reward offering:
Sole Corporate Liability - This option offers a 0.3% cashback (0.3% on your organization’s annual spends).
Joint & Several Liability- This option earns you a Citi Thankyou Point (1 Citi Thankyou Point for each S$1). The points are applied to expenses made with participating merchants (at least 10%), and an additional 0.3% cashback is applied to the organization’s annual spends.
Cardmember Liability and Personal Liability- With this option, you can gain up to 10% by spending with participating merchants, as well as a Citi Thankyou Point reward. These points are redeemable against bonuses and cash rebates.
• Payment Network: Mastercard or Visa
Fees, rewards and benefits:
• There is an annual coverage in the situation of employee misuse, free of cost (US$1.65 million per company, US$25,000 per cardholder)
• The annual fee is charged at S$160.5
• You also get a free accidental cover on business travel, at least S$1,000,000 per cardholder
• You can earn mileage, at the rate of 0.40 miles (1pt) against each S$1 expenditure
Key features:
• Complimentary accidental cover on travel
• Complimentary annual coverage against misuse by an employee
DBS World business card
The DBS World business card brings a sharp, executive feel to the table and is perfect for higher-level executives.
As one of the most in-demand corporate cards in Singapore, it offers a host of features, including rewards and software for expense management. You can even access luxury lounges in airports by using this card.
Fees, Benefits, and Rewards:
• Complimentary annual employee misuse coverage (Per cardholder US$25k and per company US$1.65m)
• On general expenditure, you get a chance to earn 0.30% cash back
• On local dining, you get 1% cashback and on overseas expenses, you get 2% cashback
• At least S$1,000,000 worth of free travel accident insurance for each cardholder
• Every year you get access to airport lounges (up to 10), with the help of the Priority Pass
• DBS BusinessCare provides 24/7 dedicated business service
Key features:
• On general spending, you earn a 0.3% cash rebate
• Free yearly employee misuse coverage
• Free insurance on travel accidents
UOB platinum business card
Among UOB corporate cards the UOB Platinum Business Card is their most expensive offering. This is because it comes with an impressive range of offerings.
The process of increasing your credit score is streamlined, and you also have access to extensive discounts on utilities, logistics, and other business services.
The UOB Platinum Business Card comes with a S$180 yearly fee. However, given its features and perks, this card is worth investing in:
Payment Network: MasterCard or Visa
Perks, benefits, and rewards:
• Complimentary accident insurance on business travel, at least S$1,000,000 per cardholder
• The ability to earn a cash rebate of 0.30% on general expenditure
• MasterCard Easy Savings
• Access to the UOB$ Programme
• Access to the UOB Commercial Privileges Programme
• Extended payment terms
Key features:
• MasterCard Easy Savings
• Free travel accident insurance
• UOB Commercial Privileges Programme
Maybank business platinum card
The Maybank business platinum card is an excellent choice amongst all the corporate credit cards for small business available. The card comes with some interesting offers and works as a single payment solution.
This includes no requirement for annual fees paid for the first few years, flexible lines of credit and more. Moreover, all your card spending will get you cashbacks.
Some of the criteria you need to meet to get this card include - the company director must be between 21 and 60 years old, the yearly sales turnover of your company must be a minimum of $200,000, and your company is required to have at least one director stationed locally.
Payment Network: MasterCard
Perks, benefits, and rewards:
• Cashback of 0.4% (For every S$1 you spend you get 1 TREAT)
• Cash withdrawal can be done worldwide
• Travel, global concierge, and privileges on dining
• Data on budgets
• Recurring bill payment rewards
• For two years the annual S$180 fee is waived
• Flexible limits on credit
Key features:
• Depending on your company’s turnover, your credit limits are flexible.
• Cash withdrawal is enabled worldwide — you can create virtual cards easily. They can be used to make transactions and withdraw cash at ATMs, anywhere that is part of the MasterCard network.
• Budget analysis — your firm will have the option to access customized reports, provided by MasterCard. These will enable you to conduct a budget analysis of the expenses.
American Express Singapore airlines business credit card
The American Express Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card is a go-to choice for businesses that conduct a great deal of overseas travel. The points system is specifically designed to benefit the user from frequent travel requirements.
Key features, benefits and perks include:
• Yearly fee: S$301.79
• Fee for supplementary cards: S$99.93 where the first 2 are provided free
• Per S$1 spent on SilkAir and SIA flights, you get up to 8.5 KrisFlyer pts (worth 8.1% cashback)
• Per S$1 general spend you get 1.8 KrisFlyer pts (worth 1.7% cashback)
• Up to 50% dining discounts and complimentary night's stay across Asia-Pacific with Accor Plus
• For a cardholder & a guest, you get 2 free lounge visits per year
• By spending S$15,000 on Singapore Airlines Group within the first year of Card Membership you get Accelerated KrisFlyer Elite Gold Status.
• Hertz rental car privileges and Gold Plus Rewards Programme
• Free accident and travel inconvenience insurance
• Extended terms of payment: from the transaction date you get up to 51 interest-free days
• Across 6, 12 or 24 months via Pay Small you get 0% interest installment plans.
What are the key features you need in a corporate card?
Corporate credit cards for small business can come with a long list of services and features. However, not all features are equally important or valuable.
Generally speaking, some key features that you should be looking for in a corporate credit card include:
• Security
• Bookkeeping abilities
• Controlling and managing expenses
• Rewards, perks and incentives
• Virtual and physical cards
• Real-time tracking and visibility
• Multi-currency wallets
Who is the best corporate card provider in Singapore?
Judging from the features, benefits, perks and incentives that each of the aforementioned cards provides we can say that there is no straight answer to the question of which is the best out of the lot.
Each has its special features and is tailored to different kinds of business requirements. Hence, the best corporate card provider for you will be the one whose features suit your business needs the best.
Alongside the cards we have mentioned, another notable corporate card provider, often counted as the best, is Volopay. Volopay has established itself as an increasingly popular corporate card provider in Singapore.
With Volopay corporate cards, you get almost instantaneous and easy virtual card creation, in-depth controls for cards, easy fund requests via desktop/mobile, multilevel approval workflows, subscription management, attached multi-currency wallets, bank-grade security, unlimited virtual cards at no cost, access to flexible credit lines and so much more.