FACTS Travel Payments Summit Session Summaries

Welcome to the FACTS 2025 Travel Payments Summit session summaries.

Throughout the 2-day event we'll be sharing the key insights and takeaways from the Travel Payments Summit on this page - so check back regularly to ensure you don't miss a thing!

JUMP TO DAY 2

Day 1: Tuesday 25 2025

14:50 AMEX Live! Optimise Cashflow for Growth

Introduction

In this high-energy session, Joe DeFazio walked through how American Express helps businesses streamline expenses, improve compliance, unlock richer data and strengthen cash flow. From automation benefits to working capital pressures and AMEX’s closed-loop network, the presentation highlighted the tools and insights reshaping T&E and supplier payments.

Key Insights

• Automation reduces cost and pain - 24% faster reimbursements, 10% quicker approval-to-pay cycles, and up to 55% less invoice processing effort, easing reconciliation and compliance.

• AMEX’s closed-loop data model combines cardholder, merchant and TMC data, delivering richer insights for reconciliation, supplier decisions and program optimisation.

• Policy compliance remains a major challenge - 82% of employees admit to sidestepping travel policy, while safety, budgeting and receipt management add pressure.

• Working capital strain is increasing - Australian businesses held $754m in additional working capital in 2024 due to slower customer payments, with huge variability in payment times.

• AMEX’s toolkit spans corporate cards, Business Travel Accounts, virtual cards (vPayment) and AccessLine, enabling centralised billing, tighter controls and flexible supplier payments.

Takeaways

AMEX positioned automation, data integration and flexible payment products as essential tools for easing reconciliation, improving compliance and strengthening cash flow. With policy pressure, late payments and manual processes weighing on finance leaders, AMEX’s message was clear: smarter systems and consolidated data can turn expense management from a headache into a strategic advantage.

Day 2: Wednesday 26 2025

09:00 Travel Payments & Expense Trends

Coming soon

09:20 SAP Concur & AMEX GBT Fireside Chat

Panel: Jonathan Beeby (SAP Concur), Nigel Rowe (Amex GBT), moderated by Catherine Logan (GBTA)

Introduction

This fireside chat unpacked the biggest partnership announcement of the year - the SAP Concur and Amex GBT strategic alliance and the launch of Complete, a fully integrated travel–expense–payments–servicing platform. The panel explored why the alliance formed, what it means for customers, how it affects other TMCs and OBTs, and how AI will reshape booking and compliance.

Key Insights

• Customers want one unified, fully integrated solution, not fragmented systems - Complete brings travel, expense, payments and servicing together.

• Concur’s challenge: innovation was slowed by multiple TMC integrations, misaligned messaging and inconsistent rollout experiences - a joint build accelerates delivery.

• Complete is already live - three customer waves migrated within weeks, with full migration underway into early next year.

• Concur will continue supporting all TMCs; Concur Travel remains fully funded with its own roadmap (e.g., new GDS content, NDC expansion, mixed-carrier trips).

• Amex GBT customers will still have choice - Neo, Egencia and third-party tools remain supported and continue to receive investment.

• AI is central: chat-based booking using SAP’s “Joule” will interpret traveller profiles, policy rules and expense logic to deliver compliant options instantly.

• AI will police fraud too - new tools detect AI-generated fake receipts, turning AI into both “good cop and bad cop.”

• SAP’s $2B AI investment gives Complete access to enterprise-grade AI agents, policy-aware decisioning and automated servicing.

• SMEs gain big-business capability: mobile booking, integrated expense, dashboards and controls that reduce admin while improving compliance.

• The goal: a consumer-grade, AI-driven booking experience that finally outperforms leisure tools - especially for infrequent travellers.

Takeaways

The alliance represents a structural shift in corporate travel tech. By pairing Concur’s global scale and SAP’s AI investment with Amex GBT’s servicing and marketplace, Complete aims to deliver a faster, more intuitive, policy-aware experience for travellers and program owners. The message was clear: choice remains, innovation accelerates, and AI will soon sit at the centre of every corporate booking.

09:45 Payment Regulation

Introduction

In this surprisingly lively session, Lance Blockley (Initiatives Group) traced Australia’s history as a global leader in payments regulation and unpacked the RBA’s current review - a review triggered more by political pressure than economics. From interchange caps to surcharging bans to expanded regulatory powers, his briefing highlighted major changes coming for merchants, issuers, schemes and corporate card programs.

Key Insights

• Australia was the first country to regulate interchange, beginning in 2003, and has reviewed card economics consistently ever since.

• The RBA’s latest review was politically accelerated after public complaints about café surcharges - leading to a broad inquiry into surcharging, fees and scheme costs.

• Debit and credit surcharging is likely to be banned, driven by strong public support and difficulty separating transaction types at POS.

• Interchange is the key battleground: the RBA proposed moving from a 0.5% weighted average to a hard cap of 0.3%, now under reconsideration after industry pushback.

• Expected compromise: 0.4% weighted average, 0.6% cap, possibly with a floor to limit ultra-low strategic rates for large merchants.

• Debit interchange may adopt small-issuer exemptions, mirroring the US Durbin model, allowing credit unions and smaller banks to survive lower caps.

• The RBA wants to cap overseas card acceptance costs, widely supported due to high foreign-issuer interchange.

• Scheme fees are out of control - hundreds of fees, with some transactions hit by up to 14; the RBA is being urged to impose direct controls, not voluntary codes.

• New powers mean Amex, Apple Pay and Buy Now Pay Later are next in line for regulation - with Apple Pay fees and BNPL merchant pricing firmly in the RBA’s sights.

• Commercial cards are unlikely to be exempt from caps, despite higher program costs - meaning possible future fees to offset lost rebate funding.

Takeaways

Blockley emphasised that Australia is heading toward lower interchange, fewer surcharges and broader regulation across all payment systems, including Amex, digital wallets and BNPL. For corporates, the coming changes may shift pricing, rebates and acceptance costs - and introduce new fee structures as issuers adjust. The Payment Systems Board will confirm final settings in early 2025, with implementation likely stretching into 2026–27.

10:10 Travel Payments & Expense Tech

Panel: Grant Johnstone (moderator), Tim McDonnell (Adyen), Nicola Laffer (APG Pay), John Staub (Visa), Leron Zinatullin (Linkly), Alex Stewart (Paygle)

Introduction

This fast-paced panel explored how embedded payments, digital wallets, cybersecurity and emerging agentic AI are transforming the travel payments landscape. Speakers shared practical examples, risks to watch and what buyers should be doing now to prepare for a more automated, data-rich and AI-driven future.

Key Insights

• Embedded payments are becoming “invisible”, baked directly into booking flows, reducing cart abandonment and enabling airlines and travel suppliers to capture more ancillary revenue.

• For corporates, embedded payments improve policy compliance, user experience and data quality, enabling better forecasting and programme design.

• Digital wallets are rising fast, acting as a “modern passport” for travellers; they simplify payments, reduce reimbursement needs and suit infrequent corporate travellers.

• Cybersecurity must be built in from the start - mapping data flows, restricting access, securing storage and understanding regulatory requirements are now essential.

• Reconciliation is evolving with AI-driven fraud detection, e-invoicing and trusted networks that reduce manual processing and lower fraud risk.

• Agentic payments - AI agents booking and paying autonomously - are emerging, but raise questions around liability, access permissions and human-in-the-loop approvals.

• The future of booking: AI travel agents accessing calendars, preferences and wallets to auto-book compliant travel with minimal user interaction.

• AI adoption requires high-quality, non-sensitive data; public tools must be used carefully to avoid privacy breaches.

• Fraud risk is rising sharply - organisations must automate invoice handling, adopt e-invoicing and strengthen controls across finance workflows.

• ESG and carbon tracking aren’t going away - TMCs remain the richest source of emissions data, with schemes also offering category-level calculations.

Takeaways

The panel’s message was clear: embrace the technology, but manage the risk. Embedded payments, digital wallets and AI will streamline travel payments, but organisations must strengthen data governance, engage suppliers, and audit their end-to-end processes. With regulation evolving and fraud rising, the winners will be those who simplify, secure and strategically adopt new tools - not those waiting for a perfect future solution.

11:45 Traveller Centricity in Payments & Expense

Presenters: Joh Webster (Festive Road) & Marten Jagers (Emburse)

Introduction

In this practical, energetic session, John Webster and Martin Jaegers challenged the long-held belief that “compliance equals control.” Their argument: when processes are intuitive, mobile-first and frictionless, travellers naturally behave in-policy - no policing required. They explored policy design, out-of-pocket stress, manual admin costs, system fragmentation and how to build a truly traveller-centred payments and expense ecosystem.

Key Insights

• Rigid, one-size-fits-all policies drive workarounds - organisations should personalise policy using agile micro-guidelines aligned to traveller personas and organisational goals.

• Out-of-pocket spend creates real financial stress, delays travel, encourages direct bookings, and reduces trust - virtual cards and instant reimbursements remove the pain.

• Manual expense processes cost millions in lost productivity - mobile-first tools, real-time receipt capture and agentic AI auditing eliminate unnecessary admin.

• Disconnected systems break the traveller journey - modern, open platforms allow TMCs, payments, expense tools and booking systems to integrate seamlessly.

• Companies shouldn’t feel “locked in” - the best results come from choosing best-fit partners, not forcing travel, card and expense into a single vendor.

• Traveller experience is now strategic - simple, intuitive journeys drive adoption, deliver clean data, and create compliant behaviour without supervision.

• By 2026, “great” will mean zero out-of-pocket travel, fully automated expenses, connected ecosystems and total trip-cost visibility, with compliance achieved automatically by design.

Takeaways

Webster and Jaegers reinforced that traveller-centricity is not about giving travellers everything they want - it’s about removing friction so doing the right thing becomes effortless. Organisations that redesign payments and expense around simplicity, mobility and automation will gain cleaner data, stronger compliance and a happier, more productive workforce.

12:20 Payments Strategy

Panel: James Heape (Moderator), Lucy Rawcliffe (Accor), Rhiana Stickings (Flight Centre), Sandeep Mand (Westpac), Kerri Homann (Rheinmetall Defence Australia and New Zealand).

Introduction

This cross-industry panel explored why travel payments still “break at the point of connection” despite two decades of digitisation. Speakers from hotels, TMCs, banking and corporate travel management unpacked the operational gaps, the rise of virtual cards, front-desk friction, fragmented systems and the growing need for true ecosystem collaboration.

Key Insights

• Hotels are the missing link - virtual card processes have long been built around TMCs and issuers, leaving hotels under-educated and unevenly equipped, resulting in failed or delayed check-ins.

• Payment failures are rarely technical - most issues stem from front-desk knowledge gaps, manual inbox searches, inconsistent processes and fear of chargebacks, not card incompatibility.

• Acceptance rates are high (90%), but the remaining 10% is driven by cancellations not actioned, card declines due to limit control, merchant category code mismatches and missing authorisations.

• Direct connectivity is the future - embedding payment details directly into the PMS/CRS removes inbox reliance, manual entry and ambiguity during check-in.

• Traveller experience carries the biggest cost - breakdowns lead to out-of-pocket spend, jetlagged travellers paying for rooms, long reconciliation cycles and damaged trust in both TMCs and hotels.

• Virtual cards + mobile wallets are the next evolution, providing backup tap-and-go payment for hotels with low digital maturity and supporting in-trip expenses with automated per-diem funding.

• Partnerships are essential - TMCs, hotels, issuers and tech providers must design jointly, share data and align KPIs (like Accor’s scorecards) to reduce friction and strengthen compliance.

Takeaways

The panel reinforced a simple truth: no single stakeholder can fix travel payments alone. The path to a seamless future lies in consistent hotel education, stronger digital connectivity, shared accountability and mobile-first payment options that remove friction for travellers and finance teams alike. When the ecosystem works together, travellers stop thinking about payments altogether — which is the ultimate definition of “connected.”

14:15 Travel & Expense Management

Introduction

In this session, moderator Thomas Marland, Principal Solutions Consultant at SAP Concur, spoke with long-term customers Janina Babaic (Business Process Analyst, ANSTO) and Aline Yamamoto (Finance/IT Director, L’Occitane ANZ). Together, they unpacked how SAP Concur’s integrated travel and expense ecosystem has reshaped employee experience, boosted finance efficiency, strengthened compliance and delivered richer visibility across their organisations. From ditching paper to driving proactive behaviour and smarter decision-making, the conversation highlighted real-world wins and evolving expectations in corporate travel management.

Key Insights

·      Both organisations shifted from manual, paper-heavy processes to a streamlined, mobile, self-service platform - drastically improving employee experience.

·      Concur returned significant time to users: L’Occitane staff gained hours each month; ANSTO reduced month-end accrual processing from 4–5 days to just 30 minutes.

·      Integrated corporate cards, automated approvals and e-receipts improved accuracy, compliance and proactive guidance for travellers.

·      ANSTO used Concur Request to tailor workflows - including fields for personal leave, parking needs and trip-specific safety checklists.

·      Visibility improved across travel spend, future commitments, policy exceptions and ROI from travel activity, supporting better financial and operational decision-making.

·      Change management success came from showing “what’s in it for them” - demonstrating time savings, ease of use and quick wins to drive adoption.

·      Looking ahead, both organisations see AI, sustainability metrics and mobile-first workflows as key to evolving travel and expense programs.

Takeaways

This session showcased how travel and expense transformation isn’t about technology alone - it’s about empowering people. By consolidating travel, expense and request workflows into one intuitive ecosystem, ANSTO and L’Occitane unlocked real efficiency, richer data and happier employees. The theme that echoed throughout: time is the new luxury, and giving it back to employees pays dividends in compliance, culture and operational performance. With AI, sustainability reporting and mobile capability accelerating rapidly, organisations that embrace integrated, insights-driven travel programs will be best placed to adapt, innovate and support travellers well into the future.

14:40 Tackling Fraud

Presenter: Lance Batty, Head of Asia Pacific Commercial, Outpace by Amadeus

Introduction

In this session, Lance unpacked how rapidly evolving payment technology - especially cross-border digital wallets, virtual cards, and AI-driven fraud tools - is reshaping risk in corporate travel. Drawing on real travel experiences and data from Outpace’s $300bn+ payment flows, he highlighted the fragmentation challenges facing airlines, TMCs and corporates, and outlined five strategic lessons to reduce fraud, cut costs and simplify operations.

Key Insights

• Payment fragmentation drives fraud and cost - many travel sellers now juggle 3+ PSPs, increasing reconciliation errors, PCI exposure and operational risk.

• Digital payments dominate APAC - only 7% of payments are now cash; cross-border APMs (Alipay, GrabPay etc.) are essential for traveller resilience, especially in disruption scenarios.

• Virtual cards reduce fraud - single-use VCCs lower chargebacks, speed supplier settlement by up to 30% and improve authorisation rates through smart routing.

• A unified “single pane of glass” boosts margin - removing multiple systems has lifted some airlines’ margins by 1.2%, while reducing chargebacks by 25%.

• APMs are critical for global travellers - markets like India rely heavily on non-card payment methods, making corporate card-only strategies outdated and risky.

• Less entry points = stronger cybersecurity - consolidating platforms lowers vulnerability, simplifies PCI compliance and reduces exposure to “friendly fraud.”

• You can’t build it yourself - payments now evolve too quickly; orchestration platforms and open APIs enable rapid onboarding of currencies, APMs and fraud tools.

Takeaways

Batty’s message: fraud prevention is no longer about blocking - it’s about smart design. Organisations must consolidate systems, digitise payments, adopt virtual cards and integrate APMs to support travellers across borders. With fraud rising and payments becoming more complex, the winners will be those who unify data, automate reconciliation and use orchestration partners to stay ahead of the pace of change.

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