Author: r b

Overcoming legacy payment processes in universities

Young woman shopping online with credit card and lap top at home

Universities can have enormous incomes, with larger universities bringing in millions and, in a couple of the more prestigious ones, billions.

But with universities typically operating as not-for-profits, there’s just as much going out as there is coming in, which means that internal finance teams have a heavy workload.

With so much to keep track of though, we understand that modernising and streamlining some of your processes can be a massive undertaking in itself. But at B4B Payments, we can help.

So how can universities transform their legacy payment processes?

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees can make up 80% of a university’s income but processing these payments can sometimes be old-fashioned. Some universities still request cash, card or cheque payments, meaning that the act of paying tuition fees is not quite as simple as tech savvy students would hope for.

With students paying as much as £9,250 in tuition to universities, it’s understandable that they expect a high quality service, however in 2018 the Higher Education Policy Institute found that over one third of students didn’t feel that their university was value for money.

As a minimum, payment processes should be seamless and require minimum effort. Parting with this amount of money needs to be done transparently and efficiently.

For many students, payments have to be made via Student Finance England and there’s no way around that, but a significant number of students will be paying tuition directly to the university, either in part or in full. This is particularly the case for international students.

One third of international students come to the UK from China, where almost half of the population use mobile payments. Add into that; currency conversion rates, old fashioned methods of payment, such as cash and cheque, and the fact that international fees can be as much as triple the UK fees cap, payments become much more complicated. So it’s important that paying tuition fees takes a step towards digital to make it simpler and more intuitive for the students who are paying.

B4B Payments’ flexible payment solutions allow for the creation of virtual IBAN accounts, giving you the power to receive payments in 25 currencies with great-value FX rates and no hidden fees. With the option to receive international payments via Faster Payments, CHAPS, SEPA, ACH and more, students have a range of reliable, fast options for making their tuition fee payments in their local currencies.

Departmental Spending

With a staff team of thousand and dozens of departments, expenses and departmental spending can be massively complicated. The internal finance team have a huge weight of responsibility on their shoulders to keep the university running smoothly and, with lengthy processes and complex budgets to keep track of, this is no easy feat.

A great way of getting on top of and monitoring departmental spending is by rolling out prepaid cards for staff or departments.

Using these cards, the finance team can immediately respond to financial requests, transfer funds onto cards and keep tabs on what’s been spent in one integrated system. Staff can also upload images of receipts, essentially automating the reporting process and taking a huge burden off internal finance teams.

What’s more, staff can have control over their own budgets. By scheduling transfers onto the cards monthly or even weekly, staff can spend from their budgets with less back and forth. This means they can purchase their own resources and book their own venues without needing to ask finance to do it for them, spreading the admin more evenly across the university – another burden off the finance team.

Not only that, the staff expenses process will run much more smoothly too. By having access to their budgets on a prepaid card, staff can purchase train tickets or lunch expenses straight from the pot. This means that the lengthy process of buying out of their own pockets, filling in an expenses form, scanning receipts, having it processed by the finance team and receiving reimbursement up to a month later will be a thing of the past.

And, for special requests that may fall outside of usual departmental spending, finance can approve and transfer funds to the right person in a matter of minutes.

This streamlines processes significantly and also means there’s much less need for staff across the university to handle cash. Prepaid cards mean that, if staff need petty cash, they can withdraw this and manage it themselves – finance will not necessarily be required to keep large amounts of cash on campus.

Taking it a step further, prepaid cards could also be issued to students for use in campus shops and canteens, which means that even retail on campus can be cashless so there’s no need for totting up money to pay into the bank. Everything is already digitally transferred at the point of contact. Universities could even work with individual suppliers to incentivise “on campus” spend where appropriate.

Payments to Students

As well as tuition fees and departmental spending, another key benefit of prepaid is the ability to transfer funds to students. This might sometimes take the form of a scholarship or bursary, or it might be the transference of a hardship fund.

Historically, this may have been done via bank transfer or even cheque, but both incur risks – a bank transfer is open to fraud and a cheque can always get lost. But by issuing students with a prepaid card at enrolment, the university can get money to students’ pockets immediately and without the risks incurred by the more old-fashioned methods. Prepaid cards are inclusive for those without bank accounts, provide instant access to funds for foreign students and can used for standalone projects such as research and trials.

From implementing digital systems to allow for straightforward tuition fee payments to rolling out prepaid cards, there’s a whole range of options available to streamline your processes and take some of the burden off your finance team – and we’re here to help.

To find out how we can help you overcome your legacy payments issues, get in touch with B4B Payments today.

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Using prepaid cards to motivate an online workforce

Online working has taken off big time over the past couple of years, for obvious reasons.

Although the pandemic necessitated remote-working, businesses across the globe have seen the benefits, from the ability to recruit a more diverse staff team without geographical restraints to cost savings from not powering an office at full capacity.

However, remote working isn’t without its drawbacks. Without frequent face-to-face interaction with colleagues, some people may feel isolated, and some processes, like handing over cash for work purposes, might now feel like a nightmare.

So what can you do to motivate your online workforce?

Monthly lunch on the house

Before lockdown, it might have been a regular motivational strategy to treat your team to lunch every now and then. It’s a great way of getting the team away from their desks, chatting to each other and getting a little reward at the same time.

Obviously though, where teams are working remotely, this isn’t possible quite so regularly. Of course, you can go down the ‘Zoom or Teams lunch’ route to maintain the social aspect but there’s no reason you can’t provide the food from afar too!

By issuing your team with prepaid company cards, you can schedule cash transfers as frequently as you choose to pay for lunch as a thank you for hard work. And to make sure it’s going where you want it to go, you can specify which retailers that money can be spent with.

Presents

The old method of discreetly emailing the team and keeping an envelope of cash contributions in a drawer for birthday presents, leaving gifts or special occasions is on the decline. With people working remotely, the practicalities of slipping a few quid to the birthday pot every few weeks is tricky. And, as teams grow, knowing what to get someone from the team can be just as difficult.

But collections can still happen remotely!

Giving prepaid cards as presents for your team, whether they’re expecting a child, getting married or celebrating a birthday, can still be a personalised gift. By specifying a type of retailer – or even leaving it open as a simple cash present – you can show your employees how much they are appreciated by their employer and their wider team.

And the process of getting contributions from the team doesn’t need to be complicated either. Your team can transfer money directly onto the gift card from their own, rendering the old, complicated envelope in the drawer method null and void!

Entertainment passes

A happy employee gives more at work and leisure time is just as important for keeping your team refreshed and motivated as the time spent at work. So why not give your team some entertainment to help them wind down and to show them that they’re appreciated?

Cinema tickets are a typical perk that many organisations gift their employees, so that’s always an option – every month, transfer funds to their branded prepaid cards and specify which retailers that the money can be spent on to give your team the opportunity to see a film after work.

Or, moving into the modern age, why not pay for a streaming service, such as Netflix, Now TV or Disney+? You could even provide entertainment for while your staff are working. Studies have shown that listening to music can make workers not only more efficient but also feel happier as they work, so why not pay for a music subscription, such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music?

Pay expenses and give your team control

Using a prepaid company card, you can speed up the expenses claims or even pay expenses in advance. Through a simple app, your team can upload receipts to your finance team and have payment reimbursed as quickly as you choose!

This means that staff are spending less time out of pocket for work and, if they’re heading to a meeting at month end and need a train fare, money doesn’t have to be a factor in whether or not they can attend.

What’s more, petty cash doesn’t have to be complicated. Some staff, particularly charity workers who need to reimburse beneficiaries their travel and meal deal expenses, need daily access to cash – but this is messy for all involved. It’s difficult to get that cash to the employee in the first place if they work predominantly online and keeping hundreds or thousands of pounds worth of cash on site is risky.

By issuing your team with prepaid cards, all of this can be done virtually and, importantly, safely. Staff can request and receive the money they need with a fast turnaround and without the need to travel to the office to collect it. On top of that, they can take control of the change that they need – no longer do finance have to keep a store of 10 and 20p coins! The whole process is faster, simpler and safer, and it gives staff control over their own budgets – this can only help to motivate your team.

Interested in using prepaid to motivate your own workforce or have your own ideas? Get in touch with B4B Payments to see how we can help!

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Global and innovative solutions for decentralised trials

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on clinical trials. As many people globally were unable or unwilling to leave their homes for a large portion of 2020, researchers had to develop new and innovative ways of gathering information for life-saving treatments.

While decentralised trials weren’t exactly new before the pandemic, only 34% of developers used them and they were mainly for rare diseases, where subjects were difficult to source, for paediatric trials, and for lower level chronic diseases like asthma and dermatology.

Now, though, the global clinical trials market is expected to grow at a rate of 5.7% per year until 2028, and with good reason. Decentralised trials have been proven to be effective and desirable for a number of reasons, a key benefit being the removal of barriers for patients. By bringing the trial to the patient, rather than asking patients to come to you, researchers have found not only a greater number of people willing to participate, but that it’s reduced costs as well.

There’s a whole range of tech out there to make decentralised trials run smoothly, so what does some of that look like?

Wearable devices

The usage and popularity of wearable devices like Fitbits, Garmins and Apple watches have grown massively over the past decade. In fact, the total number of wearable devices in use globally has more than doubled over the past three years and is expected to exceed one billion this year.

While the devices used recreationally to monitor heart rate, sleeping patterns and activity levels aren’t accurate enough for clinical trials, more sophisticated wearable tech, such as skin patches and smart pills, has huge potential. Sensors that track constant, real-time physiological data with necessary precision provide a great opportunity to gather patient data from a distance, without the need to travel to a trial site.

What’s more, the data captured is taken from a real-life setting, with patients going about day-to-day activities as normal, which means that data can be understood and interpreted in context.

And, with similar, commercial devices already very popular, wearable sensors make for a widely understood and accessible method of engaging trial subjects, removing a potential barrier for volunteers and empowering them to understand their own health.

Fluid communications

A key benefit of decentralised trials is the ability to communicate with patients regularly. Without the need to travel to test sites, communication can be much more flexible, fluid and, importantly, accurate.

The use of apps allows patients to make diary entries, complete questionnaires and speak to healthcare professionals from the comfort of their own home or even on the move. Results of trials can be uploaded and analysed in real-time, without the risk of human error in inputting. On top of that, with a virtual distance between patient and healthcare professional, subjects are more likely to be honest and less likely to omit information that they’d rather not discuss face-to-face.

What’s more, virtual communications allow for scheduled updates and reminders to be sent to patients on their mobile devices, meaning that information can be reliably gathered and submitted on time, with minimal fuss.

As well as this, the use of virtual communications tools allows trials to be accessible to multiple languages, meaning that patients can be recruited from a much more diverse, global pool.

And let’s not forget that apps allow for full audit trails and functions for capturing e-consent, meaning that security and protection of patient data can be top-notch.

Incentivising with Fintech

An important aspect of clinical trials is keeping participants engaged and often volunteers are compensated financially for their contributions.

In the context of decentralised trials, fintech innovation can play an important role in keeping patients on board and compliant throughout the trial but also in future trials. Card-based reward schemes can offer participants immediate return on their contributions – for every diary entry submitted or questionnaire completed, patients can immediately access their financial reward through a branded card.

With the ability to reward immediately and virtually, patients can take part in a trial and get immediate return from anywhere in the world. And, with a branded card already in their wallet, participating in future trials will be at the forefront of patients’ minds.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought decentralised trials front and centre, proven to increase the number and engagement of volunteers. There are a wealth of digital methods out there to help the development of pharmaceuticals run smoothly and effectively – from wearable tech to communication and fintech, global decentralised trials have a range of opportunities available for better data collection and valuable clinical trial results.

To find out how we can help with your decentralisation of clinical trials, talk to B4B Payments today.

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CEO of B4B Payments shortlisted for Director of the Year

We are thrilled to announce our Co-Founder and CEO has been shortlisted in the UK FinTech Awards 2022 for ‘Director of the Year’.

The UK FinTech Awards were developed to celebrate the incredible financial technology market, and the achievements and successes of the best and brightest of all four nations.

The year 2020 was one of the most tumultuous years in recent history. However, a strong leader provides direction, inspiration, and guidance during both the calmest and stormiest of times. Built on decisive action taken during the pandemic to secure the future of our business, B4B Payments has gone on to have an incredible year in 2021.

Paul’s strong vision has helped create a great place to work for staff who have committed wholeheartedly to supporting the needs of our clients and cardholders. It is wonderful to receive this recognition as B4B begins an exciting new chapter with expanded payment capability and new products.

The awards ceremony is taking place on 20 April 2022 at Leonardo Royal London St Paul’s and promises to be a must-attend event.

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How to incentivise charity volunteers with prepaid cards

In 2020/21, around 28 million people In 2020/21, volunteered in England, 19 million of whom volunteered at least once a month.

Volunteers can take many forms, from on the ground support working directly with beneficiaries, through back-office, front-of-house, creative media, 10k runs, to corporate relationships and ambassadorial roles. And let’s not forget trustees!

In 2020, there were around 163,000 voluntary organisations in the UK, most of whom relied on volunteers. But, with so many people volunteering their time and skills for so many different reasons, and with volunteers playing such a vital role for charities in the UK, how can we keep them coming back?

Give rewards

Many charities rely heavily on volunteers because funding in the sector can be, at times, tricky to come by and even trickier to sustain. With charity employees often taking on multiple roles and spinning multiple plates at once, volunteers are a great way of easing the burden on the team and reducing staff costs, meaning more money can go towards the charitable purpose of the organisation.

However, while volunteers are essential, they are just that – volunteers – so it’s important to still find ways of showing appreciation even when they’re not being paid. Reward schemes can be a great way of doing that.

Offering prepaid ‘thank you’ cards to volunteers, either for one-off jobs or on a milestone basis, are a great way of showing them just how much you value them. They’re not in it for the money but a token of thanks goes a long way to showing that their time and skills are appreciated and will make them all the happier to volunteer again and again.

On top of that, a branded card in a volunteer’s wallet will keep your charity and your cause at the forefront of their minds, meaning they’ll be more inclined to offer support again in the future.

Form partnerships

All charities know the importance of corporate partnerships as a way of bringing in a diverse, unrestricted income stream but there are many different forms that these partnerships can take.

Developing relationships with local businesses can bring great opportunities to your charity – and it can go a long way in not only incentivising your existing volunteers, but bringing in new ones too.

Corporate businesses are often crying out for opportunities for their staff to volunteer as part of their corporate social responsibility strategies, so creating a package to help them hit their volunteering quotas can be very well received.

Consider team challenges for different departments. Which team can raise the most in a bucket collection, bag pack or 10k run? Which team can deliver the most exciting youth work activity? Incentivise them with a prepaid card to spend on a team meal out and watch them come back to volunteer again.

You could also consider partnerships with local retailers to gain discounts for your staff and volunteers. When paying with a branded prepaid card, staff can gain exclusive discounts and retailers can benefit from increased custom so it’s a win-win all round.

Make it easy

Another key consideration in incentivising volunteers making sure that they’re able to offer their time, skills and services in a straightforward way. Volunteers don’t typically get anything in return so, if they think it’s a hassle, they’re not likely to come back again.

There are lots of ways you can make their time with you easy, from seamless sign up and induction processes to effective line management and a solid feedback loop. And finance is just as important.

Offering volunteers a branded prepaid expenses card to cover lunch and travel is a great way of not only making sure that they don’t have to spend any of their own money or go through a lengthy expense claim form for an afternoon’s work, but it’s also a great way of empowering them, making their volunteering experience smooth, and showing them that their needs have been considered too.

Volunteers are an absolutely vital part of many charities in the UK, offering their time, skills and expertise with no expectation of anything in return, other than the knowledge that they’ve done a good thing and gained some experience along the way. With such kind-hearted and wonderful people keeping the charity sector ticking over, making sure that they know they’re fully appreciated is of the utmost importance!

To find out how we can support you in incentivising your volunteers, contact B4B Payments today.

Incentives & Perks Newsroom

How to incentivise remote employees with prepaid cards

Even as COVID restrictions are rolled back, the likelihood is that for many people, the future of the workplace is remote.

82% of employees who currently work from home want a hybrid approach in future, and increasing numbers of businesses are redesigning office spaces, or even shifting premises entirely, to adapt to a new normal where offices are collaborative spaces, not vast banks of workstations.

Outside of the physical implications of a hybrid or remote office working approach, there’s a HR challenge to be solved: if you’re not seeing your employees in person as often (or at all), how do you keep them engaged?

It goes without saying that good management, excellent communication and a strong employer brand are important no matter where your employees are based, and a lot of these things haven’t changed much in the wake of remote working. However, many of the tools that formed the basis of pre-pandemic employee wellbeing and engagement strategies – fridges full of snacks, office pool tables and in-person team building days – aren’t as effective when your team is spread across multiple locations and are rarely all in the same place at once.

Bringing in cake for a team member’s birthday just doesn’t have the same impact it once used to. So how do you help remote employees feel part of a team, and how do you keep them engaged from a distance?

Bring office treats to your employees wherever they are

A fridge full of drinks and snacks was a common site in pre-pandemic offices, and many companies found that going beyond the basic tea and coffee station was a great way of keeping their teams happy and engaged.

For remote workers, it’s harder – they’re responsible for buying their own tea bags, and while most wouldn’t complain (particularly if they no longer have to keep their oat milk under 24 hour surveillance), it’s difficult to find a direct replacement for such a simple office perk.

Prepaid cards can be a great way of treating your employees wherever they’re based – by loading a regular “tea kitty” budget onto a card for each team member, they can choose their favoured drinks and snacks on you. Go further by offering a monthly “staff lunch on us”, or whatever other perks you provide for office-based staff, safe in the knowledge that your cards can be limited to prevent funds being spent on inappropriate things like alcohol or gambling.

Put teams in control of their equipment

If your employees work remotely, you have a responsibility to ensure they have everything they need to do their job – from a comfortable desk and chair to the right computer equipment and accessories.

Kitting out an office is enough hassle, but arranging home deliveries of equipment for large teams can be an absolute nightmare. Not everybody’s working spaces are the same, and they might benefit from slightly different equipment to make their working days more productive and less stressful.

Instead of shipping out the same equipment to each employee’s address, or managing individual orders on behalf of every employee, consider giving them control over their own equipment. Giving them a technology budget on a virtual or physical prepaid card allows them to choose the equipment that’ll work best in their space, and ensure they’re happy and comfortable wherever they work. Best of all, it’s easy to set controls on a prepaid card to ensure they’re shopping with approved suppliers.

Send perfect gifts without the guesswork

Buying gifts for colleagues is a minefield – you can sit next to somebody for five years and still know next to nothing about their personal preferences. If you’re only seeing them a day per week or less, chances are you have no idea what to pick out for them, leading to disappointment or potentially even offence.

Even “universal” gift options like food and drink can fall flat if they don’t fit a team member’s dietary or religious preferences, not to mention the risk of selecting something based on what you know about their interests (or trying to guess their clothes size!).

Even vouchers can be difficult for remote employees – buying something that can only be used in a specific chain of shops or restaurants assumes they have one nearby, and even the broadest voucher schemes limit the recipient’s choices in a way that might make picking out a gift difficult.

Instead, consider a prepaid card – funds can be loaded onto a physical or virtual Mastercard that your employees can use in millions of locations online or in store. With no limitations, each member of your team can choose a gift that’s perfect for them, with no stress and next to no admin compared to wrapping and shipping physical presents.

Give amazing rewards and incentives

Incentivising your team members with the gift of choice means they can reward themselves with whatever is most important to them. A prepaid card makes it easy to reward your team members for meeting targets, completing training, referring in new clients, or just about any other achievement you can think of.

Your prepaid cards can be branded for the specific incentive you’re running, and employees can receive their rewards instantly to spend wherever they’d like.

For larger companies, partnering with specific retailers can also help land your employees a discount when they use their prepaid card in specific stores, giving them an extra bonus on top of the money they’ve received but if far less likely to be spent on mundane stuff, like groceries!

Make office processes a breeze

While we all love a good office perk, sometimes the most effective way of engaging your teams is by making their day-to-day lives easier. This means giving them the autonomy to control how they work, supported by well-designed, efficient processes where they’re needed.

If an employee’s job requires them to make purchases on behalf of the business, convoluted procurement processes can cause unnecessary stress and hassle and reduce the mental energy they have to focus on more important projects. Similarly, staff who incur expenses when they travel for work shouldn’t have to struggle with claiming back their funds before their credit card bill is due.

A prepaid card scheme can give your teams control over their own spending whilst ensuring that your finance team remains on top of overall company spending – cards can be activated or frozen, loaded or unloaded with the click of a button.

Departmental budgets can be loaded onto a pre-paid card, either virtual or physical, so teams can handle their own specialist software subscriptions or equipment purchases, with the ability to restrict them to only using approved suppliers if required.

For employees who need travel and subsistence expenses, pre-paid cards can be loaded to a predefined top-up limit automatically, so they’ve always got available funds for fuel, food and other necessities while they’re on the road. Better still, they can upload receipts instantly through a cardholder app, so keeping on top of reconciliation is a breeze.

Launch your own company card scheme with B4B Payments

Launching your own branded prepaid card scheme is easier than you think – B4B Payments offer everything you need to get started in weeks, with a powerful management platform, physical or virtual branded cards and a user-friendly cardholder app.

To find out more about how we can help, get in touch today.

Case studies

TBT Marketing Use Virtual Prepaid Cards to Deliver Sustainable Incentives

B2B marketing agency, TBT Marketing have swapped the stress of sending out physical incentive rewards for a slick virtual card solution.

In the process, they’ve enhanced the service they’re able to offer their clients and moved closer to their goal of achieving a net zero carbon footprint.

The company

TBT Marketing is an independent B2B marketing agency based in the South West of the UK. They are offering a range of imaginative and collaborative marketing services to a staple of high-profile blue chip IT clients. TBT is passionate about driving carbon neutral behaviours in B2B marketing and the wider community, with their Future Focused approach and a goal of reaching a net zero carbon footprint by 2025.

The situation

TBT regularly runs sales enablement giveaways and channel incentives on behalf of their clients. While the incentives worked well, the team were keen to streamline their processes for sending out prizes, and to identify a sustainable alternative to shipping physical items via post.

We used to send out physical prizes vis online retailers. However, we were concerned that these prizes might not be a great fit for their recipients, and they might prefer to choose their own. We also wanted to get away from the admin of sorting physical prizes, particularly the shipping – we deal with clients worldwide, and it can be difficult to get gifts to people in certain countries. Looking at the bigger picture too, we’re always on the hunt for greener, more future focussed ideas for our clients to make sure that our work is good for us, good for them and good for the planet.
Freya Jewell, Account Manager at TBT Marketing

Last year, B4B delivered its first eco-friendly card solution, made from recycled PVC. The environmentally friendly card material made from 76% recycled post-industrial waste, has helped B4B Payments reduce the amount of plastic produced for its payment cards every year. Overall, creating a sustainable payment solution to corporate clients that will help reduce its contribution to climate change.

The solution

After researching a range of potential options, TBT Marketing chose B4B Payments’ prepaid cards as their preferred reward for client incentives.

We looked at online voucher options but struggled to find a card which would work across the world. We needed something versatile, and there wasn’t a voucher that fit the bill. Incentive winners can use prepaid cards to buy whatever gift they want, and virtual cards also mean there isn’t anything physical going out which is much more eco-friendly. We’ve also used B4B Payments’ sustainable physical cards for some clients.
Freya Jewell, Account Manager at TBT Marketing

Working as a reseller, TBT provide prepaid cards to their clients for incentives, managing the card issuing and loading process for them via their own embedded finance solution and making prepaid card incentives a valuable part of their service proposition. With a central management platform, they’re able to instantly issue virtual cards via email, or have sustainable physical cards, made from recycled plastic, posted to customers’ addresses.

We can easily brand the virtual cards with client logos or campaign graphics to match the incentive, and we have a single form to get information from the winners, and we can input that into the system and create an account for them.
Freya Jewell, Account Manager at TBT Marketing

The benefits

Since partnering with B4B Payments, prepaid cards have become one of TBT Marketing’s preferred option for incentives and giveaways.

It’s my go-to reward item rather than anything physical, the card fees are easily outweighed by the time savings compared to sending out physical prizes. It’s so simple, minimises admin, and customer get their reward instantly – no shipping, no waiting, no delays.
Freya Jewell, Account Manager at TBT Marketing

TBT have also seen the benefits of B4B Payments’ customer support, ensuring they’re able to deliver a seamless service to their clients.

The B4B team have been excellent. Whenever I’ve got questions, somebody will come back to me pretty much instantly, and the team have come up with a really quick solution when things haven’t been quite right. I’ve been super impressed.
Freya Jewell, Account Manager at TBT Marketing

It’s really important for us to drive sustainable growth, the TBT partnership is a great example of this.
Tim Robson, Account Director at B4B Payments

Whether you’re running your own staff incentives or looking for ways to add more value to your clients like TBT Marketing, B4B Payments’ prepaid cards are a simple, sustainable way to reward customers anywhere in the world. To find out more about using cards for incentives, or about partnering with us as a reseller, contact us today.

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Cashless Payments in the Charity Sector

Charities operate on tight budgets, and every penny counts. This can make handling and reporting on cash a complex process, not to mention a source of stress for time – poor finance teams.

Moving to cashless payments can help charitable organisations work more efficiently, stay compliant with funding rules or regulatory requirements, and deliver a better experience for volunteers, staff, and clients or beneficiaries.

Here are just a few of the ways reducing reliance on cash using a prepaid card scheme could benefit your charity:

Put staff and volunteers in control of their spending

Charities are often diasporic, delivering services across multiple offices or locations with a central head office. Even those who work from a single location often have staff who work on location, travelling to deliver services. This combined with the move to homeworking and with project workers out and about a lot delivering on the ground can make keeping track of spending and distributing funds a challenge for finance teams.

Volunteer workers add an extra layer of complexity – covering things like travel and lunch expenses often means asking volunteers to pay up front and submit expense claims, which could cause extra hassle and put otherwise keen volunteers off participating.

Prepaid cards allow finance teams to instantly load funds, 24 hours a day, or even to set auto top-up limits to ensure that teams always have access to the money they need to do their job. Cards can also be limited to ensure that funds are used appropriately – by restricting specific stores or preventing ATM withdrawals, for example.

Ensure transparent use of funds

All businesses need to keep a close eye on their funds, and charities are no exception. Funding of charities can be complex, with money coming in from multiple income streams, some of which will have restrictions placed on their usage. While corporate giving or community fundraising can usually be used for any purpose, funds received through grants or foundations are often limited to being used on project delivery only – work directly carried out on the ground with beneficiaries.

This means every penny needs to be accounted for and recorded to ensure that funding is being used appropriately. If funds are distributed in cash, keeping track of purchases across multiple staff members can quickly become messy and complicated.

B4B prepaid cards make it easy to categorise spending against specific teams, departments or accounting categories, and to see real-time transaction data. This means that finance teams can easily keep tabs on spending across different funding streams, and access in-depth reporting to ensure that any restrictions on fund use are being adhered to.

Distribute cash securely

Trustees have a legal duty to use due diligence in ensuring that funds reach their intended beneficiaries and that they’re used for legitimate purposes. Maintaining compliance with these requirements requires strong financial management.

For charities who distribute funds directly to beneficiaries, cash can seem like a necessary evil. While it’s difficult to track, if charity recipients do not have access to a UK bank account, it can be a challenge to get funds to them by any other way.

Prepaid cards make it simple to get funds to anybody via a contactless Mastercard that can be used in millions of physical and online locations worldwide, or even a virtual card sent instantly via email. Know Your Customer checks ensure that charities can have confidence that beneficiaries are who they say they are, and the option to set restrictions on card use, such as disallowing online spending, ATM withdrawals or alcohol or gambling-related transactions can help to ensure that distributed funds are being used appropriately.

Improve security and reduce risk

Holding large amounts of cash on premises is messy and risky. If reimbursements for travel fares and meal deals are made in cash, this requires holding a lot of change on site, which not only requires regular trips to the bank for more coins but puts your organisation at risk of theft.

If project teams are signing out petty cash regularly, it’s easy to end up with dozens of pots of cash out and about every day, and this is a nightmare to keep track of. Worse still, even the most reliable volunteers can make mistakes, and funds can be lost or misspent even with the best intentions.

Every penny matters to a charity, and losses can have drastic consequences to the organisation and its beneficiaries. Prepaid cards provide 100% visibility of funds at all times, with the ability to activate, load, unload or freeze cards at the touch of a button, so you’re always in control of your organisation’s spending.

Keep on top of reporting

Reconciliation and reporting is a headache for any financial team, and with multiple project team members in the field alongside volunteers, who may be less familiar with processes, it’s easy for receipts to get lost, reports to get forgotten or cash to go missing.

Keeping track of spend on cash funds requires a lot of back and forth between project workers and finance – eating up valuable and expensive time.

With prepaid cards, transactions are instantly recorded and uploaded to a central management platform for a real-time view of spending activity across your entire organisation. And when purchases are made in the field, our handy cardholder app will automatically prompt them to photograph and upload their receipt, reducing the need to chase up volunteers or project teams.

Ditch the petty cash box for good with B4B Payments

Charity finance teams work hard to ensure that their organisations’ funds are being used appropriately, and handling large amounts of cash can make their job more difficult than it needs to be.

A prepaid card scheme from B4B Payments could help take the stress out of managing your charity’s spending, whether you need a few cards or a few thousand.

To find out more about how we can help, get in touch today.

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How prepaid card technology is transforming insurance

Consumers have ever-growing expectations for the products they use, and insurance is no exception..

Driven by the rise of FinTech and the success of challenger banks, a new breed of InsureTech startups are pushing the boundaries of the insurance industry, rethinking business models to improve security, enhance customer experience, and broaden their product offering.

Insurance is a fertile ground for tech innovation, and organisations who take advantage of the latest technologies could gain a significant boost over the competition.

One tech innovation that is transforming insurance is the use of prepaid cards. Insurers are increasingly seeing the benefits of issuing prepaid cards, with the potential to not only elevate their customer experience, but to drive loyalty and even access new revenue streams. So how are insurers using prepaid cards?

Streamline payouts for all customers

Making an insurance claim is likely to be a stressful process for most people, and with customer experience a key differentiator in a competitive market, insurers are constantly on the lookout for ways to make their customers’ lives easier by streamlining their processes.

For insurance payouts, virtual cards offer a simple, clear method of distributing funds that works for everybody, with no risk of mistyped bank account numbers and no time spent waiting for payments to clear.

Not only are faster payouts good for customers, they’re better for insurers, too – the longer it takes to pay out a claim, the more the risk of inflated claims rises, and the higher the final payout could become. By offering an instant payout to a customer’s prepaid card, final settlements could be reached more quickly, reducing costs.

Simplify regular payments

For customers who are receiving an annuity, disability, or other recurring payments, a prepaid card is more convenient and more cost-effective than other payment methods.

The cost of the resources required to make a bank payment, or worse, issue a cheque, add up over time, particularly for recurring payments, so it makes sense to streamline these wherever possible.

Loading funds onto a prepaid card can be a cheaper, faster and easier option, with the ability to set recurring payments and the benefit of getting customers their funds instantly, with no clearing time.

Support customers in an emergency

In emergency situations, customers rely in their insurers to respond quickly and effectively – their wellbeing depends on it. For customers who are unable to access their bank accounts, for example if payment details have been lost or if they’re stranded in an unfamiliar country, prepaid cards make it easy to disburse funds when time is of the essence.

Cards can be issued virtually 24 hours a day, and made accessible to customers via card details sent over email. So wherever your customers are, it’s easy to get them the right support when they need it most.

Reduce fraud risk

Like any organisation, it’s vital that insurance companies do the right due diligence when disbursing insurance payouts, to make sure that the people receiving the payment are who they say they are.

With B4B Payments’ prepaid cards, Know Your Customer (KYC) checks are carried out when cards are activated, so you can be confident that funds are being sent to the right people. Sending payout funds to a prepaid card issued when a policy is purchased also ensures that there’s no risk of bank details being incorrect or out of date.

This is particularly true if customers are issued their card when the policy is purchased – their payout details are simply stored with their policy and no further checks are required.

Drive customer loyalty

Issuing customers with a branded prepaid card when a policy is taken out not only serves as a quick method of making payouts, but acts as a reminder every time they open their wallet. With a simple, quick payout mechanism on hand, there’s a strong incentive to take out additional policies with the same insurer and keep everything in one place.

Prepaid cards are also the perfect mechanism for incentivising customer referrals – cashback rewards can be loaded straight onto a customer’s card, providing them with a discount at renewal or allowing them to choose their own reward.

Access new revenue streams

Prepaid cards can also offer exciting opportunities for new partnerships or potential revenue streams. For example, a customer shopping for replacement products after a home insurance claim could be offered a discount for using their prepaid card with a selected partner retailer, or the card could simply provide access to a range of exclusive partner offers as a value-add.

The spending data available from prepaid cards is also a powerful tool for insurers – by building a better understanding of their customers’ behaviour, insurance brands can harness vital insights to develop improved product offerings and drive further competitive advantage.

Elevate your proposition with prepaid cards

Insurance payouts made by prepaid card, whether a single payment or a regular annuity, are faster, safer and more streamlined than bank transfers or cheque payments. More importantly, they offer exciting potential to improve your customers’ experience, make cost savings, and drive your proposition forward.

To find out more about our powerful prepaid card platform, get in touch today.

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How cashless payments can drive social inclusion to lead to a fairer and safer society

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, cash handling plummeted. However, the decline in cash usage had begun much earlier, with the growing widespread use of contactless payments, apps, and virtual cards.

According to UK Finance, cash was used for just 17% of all payments in the UK in 2020, down from 56% 10 years prior. In fact, in 2020, 13.7 million consumers didn’t use cash at all.

Though many do still rely on cash, the move towards a cashless economy is beneficial for more vulnerable members of society, driving social inclusion and a safer, fairer society.

Free school meals

In a school environment, being different from the norm can be an uncomfortable position for students. For those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, receiving free school meals is a lifeline for struggling families, but can affect the students’ ability to fit in with their peers.

Cashless, school-wide schemes have been set up to eliminate this issue, by providing every child with a payment card onto which parents can load money for school dinners. Those in receipt of free school meals receive an identical, pre-paid card, but preloaded with monies from the central funding for schools. This means that no-one will be treated differently when paying for meals. It also means that parents who need support are more likely to accept it as they can be confident that their child will be treated equally and avoid the stigma of relying on government help.

Contractors from overseas

When people from outside of the UK are brought in on projects, the logistics around receiving payment can be complex when they do not have a UK bank account. With cashless payments, this problem is eliminated, and diverse workforces from elsewhere can contribute to the UK economy easily and without fuss.

Safer and more secure

Workers vulnerable to exploitation and/or underpayment through cash-in hand work like young, working class, or immigrant workers, are less likely to be paid unfairly as cashless payments leave a clear paper trail.

A reduction in cash-in-hand payments also means there is less opportunity for tax avoidance practices, meaning more contributions to state funded services.

Inclusion of people without bank accounts

In a cashless system, prepaid cards can ensure that people without bank accounts (like, for example, homeless people, or refugees) can still participate and access benefits. Government bodies, charities, and other organisations can ensure that beneficiaries are able to receive funds without the need for permanent addresses.

Transport

Prepaid cards can ensure that people without bank accounts can travel to interviews or appointments, allowing them to get jobs, access health care, and other essential parts of life.

Cashless taxi systems like Uber of Lyft can help women and vulnerable people access safe transport without the need to carry cash or look for a cash point. This also means that the risk of mugging or theft for cash is minimised.

Food poverty

Tackling food poverty and helping low-income households ensure their children are fed has historically been done through food vouchers, which can lead to stigmatisation and often families refusing help because of this.

With pre-paid cards, families can take advantage of social benefit schemes designed to tackle food poverty without the stigma of using food vouchers or food banks.

An example of this in action is the Best Start Foods project in Scotland, which won Social Inclusion Project of the Year at the 2020 Payments Awards. The scheme allowed the Scottish Gov to send funds to low-income households with children under 3 via pre-paid cards to buy food staples like milk, bread, fruit, and vegetables.

Cashless systems can ensure that the most vulnerable in our society are treated fairly, can access help, and are safer and more secure. At B4B, we offer a range of cashless payment options that can contribute to a more inclusive society. Talk to our team to explore your own cashless systems.

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