CARD91 Launches SpendFlow to Support Enterprise Commercial Card Programs

BENGALURU — Payments infrastructure provider CARD91 has announced the launch of SpendFlow, a commercial card and enterprise spend management platform. The newly introduced platform is built specifically for issuer banks that serve businesses, SMEs, large corporates, and institutional clients.

Traditionally, issuer banks have relied on card management systems designed primarily for retail or consumer credit cards, adapting them for commercial card programs. According to the company, this approach often creates functional gaps as banks attempt to support complex business customers. Commercial programs generally require features that accommodate organizational hierarchies, differentiated credit arrangements, approval structures, spend policies, supplier payments, consolidated billing, and enterprise financial workflows.

SpendFlow is designed around these commercial card requirements by bringing program configuration, credit management, virtual cards, spend controls, approvals, supplier payments, billing, and accounting into a single architecture. This allows banks to configure programs for different business customers while maintaining central governance.

Ajay Pandey, CEO of CARD91, noted that commercial card programs have distinct requirements compared to retail credit cards. He stated that banks need infrastructure that supports business structures, the distribution of credit and spending authority, and how payments move through enterprise workflows. SpendFlow aims to help issuers operate sophisticated commercial card programs without requiring extensive customization of retail-oriented systems.

The platform features a seven-layer program configuration model that allows banks to configure fees, credit behavior, interest, limits, controls, and product parameters across multiple levels. It also includes enterprise hierarchy management to support parent companies, subsidiaries, cost centers, and master-child account structures with consolidated or entity-level visibility.

Additional capabilities include virtual cards and spend controls linked to corporate entities, employees, accounts, or credit facilities. SpendFlow also supports multi-tier approval workflows and virtual-card-enabled supplier payments, alongside connected credit, billing, and accounting management. The platform integrates with issuer Core Banking Systems and corporate ERP environments.

Furthermore, CARD91 is working on enabling Agentic Payments on SpendFlow, a capability designed to allow AI agents to autonomously initiate and manage supplier and invoice payments within predefined controls. The feature aims to combine automation with transparency and trust for business payment workflows.

The launch expands CARD91's payments infrastructure offerings into commercial cards and corporate spend. The company's technology already supports digital onboarding, fraud and risk decisioning, card issuance across credit, prepaid, and forex programs, and UPI infrastructure, including issuance and acquiring. CARD91 operates across key financial hubs in India, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Chennai.

"The launch of SpendFlow by CARD91 highlights an important evolution in financial technology infrastructure. For years, issuer banks have struggled with retrofitting retail credit card systems to handle complex corporate and enterprise requirements. By offering a purpose-built platform that handles enterprise hierarchies, spend controls, and multi-tier approvals natively, CARD91 is addressing a clear operational gap in the commercial banking sector. As banks increasingly cater to SMEs and large enterprises, adopting specialized infrastructure like this will be essential for scaling commercial card programs efficiently." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes