Access Bank Plc has partnered with Visa Inc. to roll out a corporate credit card aimed at helping medium and large Nigerian companies better manage working capital and digitise day-to-day expenses, as lenders and payment firms push deeper into corporate finance services.
The new Access Bank Visa Corporate Credit Card offers businesses an interest-free period of up to 45 days, giving chief financial officers and treasurers short-term liquidity to settle supplier obligations while preserving cash flow. The bank said the product is designed to help firms optimise their days payable outstanding, a key metric for working-capital efficiency.
The launch comes as Nigerian companies grapple with tight liquidity conditions, elevated borrowing costs, and increased scrutiny around corporate governance, following years of macroeconomic volatility and currency pressures.
Beyond credit, the card is positioned as an expense-management tool, allowing companies to digitise operational spending such as staff travel, entertainment, fuel, diesel, and office procurement. Firms can issue cards to specific departments or employees, reducing reliance on cash and manual reimbursement processes.
“With the added advantage of Visa Spend Clarity, finance teams can seamlessly manage and monitor corporate expenses in real time, all at the click of a button,” Florence Owuor, head of cards business at Access Bank, said in a statement. She said the solution is aimed at improving cash-flow efficiency while cutting the time spent reconciling expenses.
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A core feature of the partnership is the integration of Visa Spend Clarity, a web and mobile platform that provides detailed, transaction-level data across an organisation. The tool allows management to track spending by employee, branch or department, offering what the partners describe as actionable insights to support budgeting and internal controls.
The move reflects a broader push by Nigerian banks to deepen non-interest revenue and embed digital payment solutions into corporate operations, as regulators encourage cashless transactions and tighter financial oversight. For businesses, digitised expense tracking has become increasingly important amid rising compliance demands and efforts to curb fraud and cost leakages.
According to Access Bank, the platform helps reduce risks such as inflated invoices, fraudulent expense claims, and the misclassification of personal spending as business costs, issues that have long plagued corporate expense management in cash-heavy environments.
Visa said the collaboration aligns with its strategy to expand digital payments adoption across Africa’s most populous economy. “The Access Bank Visa Corporate Credit Card solution brings seamless, accountable and data-driven expense management to medium and large organisations, helping them make smarter financial decisions,” said Andrew Uaboi, Visa’s vice president and cluster head for West Africa.
To drive adoption, Access Bank and Visa plan to host monthly webinars targeted at CFOs and corporate treasurers, focusing on strategies for optimising working capital and controlling organisational spending.
The partnership underscores growing competition among Nigerian lenders to offer value-added corporate banking products, as companies look for tools that combine short-term financing with tighter control over costs in a challenging economic environment.