Central card management using IATA's Card Services solutions, IATA CardClear and IATA CardAXS transform a complex country by country settlement structure into a simplified global process and lead to a wealth of additional benefits:
Reduced credit card fees costs
By negotiating improved overall credit card fees, based on their total global card business, credit card fees can be reduced of 25% in average (Visa and MasterCard transactions).
Accelerated cash flow
By directing settlement of all global card sales to central bank accounts, airlines can accelerate the availability of these funds in preferred currencies and locations.
Reduced foreign exchange exposure
By immediately converting currency of sale to a preferred currency of settlement, airlines can significantly reduce the exposure to foreign currency fluctuation and local inflation.
Improved use and control of card revenues
By central settlement of all card revenues an airline's central treasury can immediately utilise the funds in the airlines overall cash position. Also, reconciliation of card revenues can be automated and centralised based on standard processing and settlement reports for all countries.
Simplified expansion of selling network, including e-commerce
A central card management structure can easily be expanded to serve additional countries and currencies without the need to negotiate new local credit card settlement agreements or to have local bank accounts.
In the e-commerce environment, central card management enables airlines to sell in numerous currencies from a single location.
Improved management information
Daily card processing and settlement reports are available (including electronic versions) to an airline's head office, providing the management with up to the minute information on card sales and revenue.
Standardised & Automated Card Acceptance Procedures
By using central card settlement airlines can standardise card acceptance procedures worldwide because they no longer have to incorporate variations that apply to local card settlement agreements.
Also, a central card management allows automating authorisation and billing processes for all direct, own office sales. By developing card sales data delivery links to central settlement providers, either direct or through IATA CardClear, airlines can deliver files of card transactions based on information (including authorisation codes) captured by the reservation system. Automation accelerates the settlement and reduces errors by eliminating manual procedures, while eliminating the cost of renting credit card terminals.
Improved customer service
By centrally managing all cardholder queries, airlines improve the speed and accuracy of responses, improving customer satisfaction and reducing the risk of financial loss (through chargebacks).
Also specialist central settlement providers such as IATA CardAXS will store the ticket and itinerary information that is delivered with card sales data and use that information to reply to initial cardholder queries on an airlines behalf. More than half of the total cardholder queries can be solved in this way - significantly reducing the workload of airlines in managing cardholder enquiries.
Improved fraud control
By centrally managing card chargebacks airlines can identify chargeback trends and weaknesses in worldwide acceptance procedures, and take appropriate actions to reduce losses.
Also, by having access to information relating to global card chargebacks, they can quickly identify frauds and take appropriate action to protect revenues.
Reduced local administration
By having a global agreement negotiated at head office level, local offices are no longer required to manage card settlement agreements.
Also, the centralisation of reconciliation processes and cardholder significantly reduces the administrative workload of local offices.