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LONDON – Technology billionaire Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block has launched its business card service in Britain in a bid to deepen its expansion in the country and take on major established players such as American Express.
The company’s business payments arm, Square, told CNBC that it opened registrations for its Square Card product in Britain late Wednesday, marking the first time Block has expanded its business card offering outside of North America, where it was first launched in 2019.
Currently available in the US and Canada, Square Card is a free business spending card that shortens the time between merchants making a sale and having money available to spend. It competes with offerings from the likes of American Express And Citi Group.
Samina Hussain-Letch, executive director of Square UK, said the launch of the company’s corporate card product in Britain would give merchants faster access to money and help them manage their day-to-day spending more easily.
“When designing this product, we went back to our mission of making commerce simple,” Hussain-Letch told CNBC. Based on internal research, Square found that small and micro businesses “prefer to have their funds consolidated in one place,” she said, adding that real-time access to funds was also an important factor.
In Britain, Square Card will take on local banking giants such as Lloyds And NatWest. It will also increase competition for a number of well-funded European fintech players, including Pleo, Payhawk and Spendesk.
Hussain-Letch cited The Vinyl Guys as an example of an early adopter of its corporate card offering. The vehicle branding and signage printing company in Stafford used the company card as part of a trial phase with domestic UK customers.
“We’ve had great feedback about the benefits of direct access to funds, which really helps our small business sellers to run and grow, as we know that the main reason why small businesses in the UK fail is due to to cash flow issues,” she added.
Salespeople can personalize employee expense cards with signatures and company branding.
Once an employee is enrolled in the Square Card program, they can start using it in their own digital wallet apps. The service does not charge monthly fees, maintenance fees or exchange fees.
Square is deepening its investments in Britain at a time when the country wants to be seen as a destination for global tech companies.
Entrepreneurs are warning of a possible exodus of talent from Britain in response to the government’s controversial tax changes.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Wednesday increased capital gains tax (CGT) – a levy on investment gains. But the news provided some relief for tech entrepreneurs who feared an intensified tax attack on the wealthy. The lower capital gains tax rate will increase from 10% to 18%, while the higher rate will rise from 20% to 24%, Reeves said. The tax increases are expected to raise £2.5 billion.