“We embed virtual cards directly into the systems corporates and travel partners already use,” says Adam Williams, head of commercial for Asia Pacific, Conferma. “That means payments no longer sit outside the travel journey; they’re part of it, from booking through to reconciliation.”
The impact is immediate. “Every payment is approved and reconciled automatically,” says Williams. “Finance teams stop chasing receipts and instead work with clean, structured data from day one.”
Williams says clients are already using this model to eliminate expense reports altogether. “In effect, these expense reports disappear, allowing staff and teams to focus on what’s important,” he says.
Manchester-based Conferma powers one of the world’s largest ecosystems of connected travel and payment platforms by embedding virtual cards across multiple travel management companies. Williams says the next phase is expanding the same model into adjacent workflows.
“In procurement and supplier payments, real-time payments and data open the door to predictive budgeting and dynamic spend controls,” he says. “The long-term aim is an invisible financial layer that works in the background, powering productivity and competitiveness.”
That is already playing out with Australian corporates. “Westpac’s Dynamic Virtual Cards simplify reconciliation, centralise travel spend, and embed supplier payments directly into the systems businesses use every day – delivering real efficiencies, enhanced compliance, and a seamless finance experience for our clients,” says Jeffrey Byrne, managing director, global transaction services at Westpac.
From mining sites to law firms
The benefits are not limited to travel. Ladds says embedded finance is especially powerful in industries with sprawling supply chains and labour-intensive processes. Mining, fast-moving consumer goods, logistics and professional services all run on complex ecosystems of suppliers and approvals.
“Even something as basic as ordering safety helmets on a mine site or printer paper in a law firm can still run through a 10 to 15 step process across procurement, approvals and payments,” she says. “Now imagine compressing that into just two or three clicks, with embedded finance integrated directly into ERP or procurement platforms. It’s hours saved across thousands of transactions, and significant cost efficiency at scale.”
She argues that efficiency is only the starting point. Embedded finance, she says, removes friction, reduces fragmentation and enables the orchestration of business operations for agility, resilience and growth.
Automating the finance function
That vision is being realised inside corporate finance teams. Jonathan Beeby, managing director of SAP Concur in Australia and New Zealand, says automation is transforming expense management.
“Employees get prompts if details are missing, so reports are accurate from the start. This gives finance leaders a clear view of costs and compliance in real time,” says Beeby.
SAP Concur, part of enterprise software giant SAP, provides travel and expense systems used by thousands of organisations worldwide. Beeby says demand is growing as companies seek both efficiency and better compliance.
A recent SAP Concur study found that 55 per cent of finance and travel teams report improved detection of expense-related fraud after combining travel and expense solutions with artificial intelligence.
Cross-border competition
The opportunity is not just efficiency but competitiveness. Exporters face a maze of permits, compliance checks and documentation that can stall shipments even before payments are reconciled. “The challenge isn’t just moving goods,” Ladds says. “How can we also move money with the same speed, transparency and trust?”
She points to agriculture and mining as examples. By embedding financing options such as supply chain financing or dynamic discounting into trade platforms, farmers and miners can access liquidity earlier instead of waiting months for overseas buyers to settle invoices. In logistics, embedded finance combined with blockchain-based documentation can cut weeks out of settlement cycles while also creating auditable, compliant trails across multiple jurisdictions.
“For Australia, the challenge is regional,” Ladds says. “Australia is trading into some of the fastest-growing markets in Asia Pacific, where digital-first buyers expect speed and transparency. By adopting embedded finance, firms can align their payment and reconciliation processes with these expectations, positioning themselves as easier, faster partners to do business with.”
Looking ahead
Embedded finance is already changing how businesses operate day to day. What began as small efficiency gains in processing invoices or reconciling expenses is now reshaping supplier relationships, liquidity management and even cross-border trade.
The future, according to Ladds, Beeby and Williams – three executives at the coalface of change – is one where financial process is not an extra step but a built-in feature of doing business.
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