HBX Group, a leading B2B travel technology marketplace, and Mastercard have announced a new virtual payment program aimed at enhancing travel payments globally. The initiative, leveraging the Mastercard Wholesale Programme, is designed to provide travel intermediaries with an efficient, flexible, and secure payment management system.

The virtual cards cater to high transaction volumes across various currencies, enabling HBX Group partners in the EU, UK, and US to make instant supplier payouts, automate transaction tracking and reconciliation, while ensuring enhanced cash-flow visibility and protection against fraud. Furthermore, the cards also offer flexible financing and payment guarantee options, thus improving liquidity and minimizing operational complexities.

Daniel Nordholm, the Chief Information Officer at HBX Group, pointed out the significant challenges faced by travel intermediaries, stating, “Managing payments in travel remains one of the industry’s biggest challenges. By combining Mastercard’s global payment expertise with our in-depth knowledge of the travel sector, we are developing payment solutions that are efficient, secure, and tailored to the operational needs of our partners.”

The integration of Mastercard’s virtual card technology into HBX Group’s network—which connects over 54,000 travel distributors and 330,000 travel products in 170 countries—represents a major leap forward in the B2B travel domain. Chiara Quaia, Senior Vice President of B2B Travel at Mastercard, commented, “The launch of this new virtual card program with HBX Group is a significant step toward digitizing the B2B travel industry.”

Plans are in place for HBX Group to roll out the program to the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of 2026, followed by anticipated expansions into Latin America.