The Best Corporate Cards in Hong Kong For Your Business

What is a corporate card?

A corporate card is a credit or debit card that companies issue to their employees for business-related expenses. In Hong Kong, both traditional banks and virtual banks offer corporate card solutions, each with their own unique features and requirements. These cards are specifically designed for business spending and often come with features tailored to Hong Kong's business environment.

Corporate cards make it simple for employees to make purchases or spend on behalf of the company without having to pay out of their own pockets and wait for reimbursements later. This is particularly valuable in Hong Kong's fast-paced business environment, where quick decision-making and efficient spending are crucial. It also allows businesses to track expenditure since the company can access spending details on corporate cards.

How do corporate cards work in Hong Kong?

Corporate cards in Hong Kong function similarly to personal credit or debit cards but come with additional business-focused features. Companies issue them to employees, and the business can monitor expenses through dedicated management platforms. In Hong Kong, corporate cards typically require the company to be registered with the Companies Registry and have a local business bank account.

The company can set spending limits and category restrictions that individual employees cannot alter. For credit cards, the business is typically responsible for repaying the balance, though some banks in Hong Kong offer individual liability options. Hong Kong corporate cards often come with features specifically designed for local and cross-border transactions, particularly useful for businesses dealing with mainland China.

How to choose the best corporate card for your business in Hong Kong?

When selecting a corporate card in Hong Kong, several factors need consideration. Companies need to evaluate their specific needs, particularly regarding local and international transactions.

1. Type of company expenses

First, consider the type of company expenses your business typically incurs. This includes evaluating whether your employees frequently travel to mainland China or other international destinations, regularly entertain clients at local establishments, or make bulk purchases from suppliers.

2. Interest repayment period

The repayment terms are another crucial factor. For credit cards, different Hong Kong banks offer varying interest-free periods and repayment conditions. Some virtual banks provide more flexible terms compared to traditional banks.

3. Safety

Security features are particularly important in Hong Kong's business environment. Look for cards that offer real-time transaction notifications, robust fraud protection, and integration with local security protocols.

4. Perks and rebates

Consider the rewards and benefits structure. Many Hong Kong corporate cards offer specific perks for local business expenses, such as dining, transportation, and cross-border transactions with mainland China. 

Besides travel perks and bulk discounts, does the card provide additional perks such as rebates on gas, discounts on food bills, hotel perks and cashbacks? Choosing a card that provides maximum benefits will help you reduce your expenses considerably.

5. Easy integrations

Another essential consideration to make while choosing your corporate card provider is to see what kind of expense management tools they provide. An issuer that gives you an in-built expense management system can ease the process of tracking expenses. You also need to consider a possible integration with your own expense management system and accounting software. 

Best corporate cards in Hong Kong for your business 

Now, let's get down to the most crucial part of the article – the best business credit cards in Hong Kong, the best business debit cards in Hong Kong. There are many banks and fintech companies that offer corporate cards to businesses. However, if you are a small business, these are some of the best corporate credit cards and corporate debit cards to consider:

Airwallex AdPlus Borderless Card

• Issuing Entity: Airwallex
• Payment Network: Mastercard

The Airwallex AdPlus Borderless Card allows businesses to create corporate cards swiftly after account approval, offering up to 1.1% cashback on digital advertising expenditures with platforms like Meta, Google Ads, Microsoft, and LinkedIn. It supports transactions in over 140 currencies with no international transaction fees, making it ideal for companies with significant foreign currency expenses.

Key Features:

• No foreign transaction fees
• Up to 1.1% cashback on digital advertising spend
• Transactions in 140+ currencies
• Instant issuance of virtual cards
  

American Express Gold Business Card

• Issuing Entity: American Express
• Payment Network: American Express

Designed for SMEs, this card offers up to 3X points on foreign currency spending and up to 2X points on local spending. New applicants enjoy a first-year annual fee waiver and can earn statement credits upon meeting specific spending thresholds.

Key Features:

• Up to 3X points on foreign currency spending
• Up to 2X points on local spending
• First-year annual fee waiver
• Welcome offers with statement credits

HSBC World Business Mastercard

• Issuing Entity: HSBC
• Payment Network: Mastercard

This card provides 1 RewardCash for every HKD 250 spent, with double rewards for overseas and online spending. It includes a two-year annual fee waiver and offers flexible credit limits for each cardholder, making it suitable for businesses with diverse spending needs.

Key Features:

• 1 RewardCash per HKD 250 spent
• Double rewards for overseas and online spending
• First two years' annual fee waiver
• Customisable credit limits per cardholder

DBS Visa Business Card

• Issuing Entity: DBS Bank
• Payment Network: Visa

The DBS Visa Business Card offers flexible credit solutions with customisable credit limits for each cardholder. It provides liability waiver protection and detailed spending reports, aiding in efficient expense management.

Key Features:

• Customisable credit limits per cardholder
• Liability waiver protection
• Detailed spending reports
• Contactless payment capabilities

Best corporate debit cards in Hong Kong

Now that you know which credit card is best in Hong Kong, let’s move on to the best debit cards, 

Aspire Corporate Card

Issuing entity: Aspire

Payment network: Visa

Aspire Corporate Card, a debit card in Hong Kong, is one of the best debit card options for small businesses. Firstly, it is a virtual card, making it an extremely safe and easy-to-use product. You can also choose to apply for a physical card if you wish to. You can apply for as many cards required to give to your team members. Businesses are eligible for cashback on digital spending, including online marketing and SaaS such as on Facebook ad spends, Google ads, Hubspot, Notion, AWS, Slack, Adobe, Shopify, etc.

Key features:

• 1% cashback on digital spends 
• Attractive FX rates up to 2x cheaper than banks
• No hidden costs and minimum balance requirements
• Expense management software 
• Accounting automation 

HSBC Business Debit Mastercard

• Issuing Entity: HSBC
• Payment Network: Mastercard

HSBC's Business Debit Mastercard offers access to 12 major currencies, facilitating seamless international transactions. It supports contactless payments and integration with mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, enhancing payment flexibility.

Key Features:

• Access to 12 major currencies
• Contactless payment capability
• Compatibility with major mobile wallets
• Manageable spending limits via the HSBC HK Business Express mobile app
  

Standard Chartered Multi-Currency Mastercard Debit Card

• Issuing Entity: Standard Chartered
• Payment Network: Mastercard

Exclusive to Priority Private and Priority Banking clients, this card supports 11 major currencies, allowing fee-free foreign currency transactions and ATM withdrawals. It also offers a 0.5% cash rebate on all local and global payments.

Key Features:

• Supports 11 major currencies
• No foreign exchange or handling fees
• 0.5% cash rebate on all payments
• Fee-free ATM withdrawals on Mastercard or Maestro networks
  

Citibank Debit Mastercard

• Issuing Entity: Citibank
• Payment Network: Mastercard

The Citibank Debit Mastercard provides up to 1% cash rebate during the first six months and 0.5% thereafter. Its Global Wallet feature allows locking in foreign exchange rates and managing multiple currencies, making it ideal for businesses with international transactions.

Key Features:

• Up to 1% cash rebate initially
• Global Wallet for multiple currencies
• Auto FX top-up function
• Withdrawals at Citibank or JETCO ATMs

Types of corporate cards

You can issue business credit cards or debit cards to your employees. Business credit cards allow your employees to make purchases on credit. These expenses will have to be cleared at the end of each month. Business debit cards will require debit balances to be loaded on the card or the linked account. Employees will only be able to spend depending on the balance there is on the card or account. 

 After understanding what are corporate cards, you need to know the types of cards in the market. There are three types of corporate cards available in the market:

1. Individual Liability Card 

An individual liability card is a corporate card in which the employee is responsible for making payments to the credit or debit card issuer. While they can claim reimbursements from the company for their business expenses, they will be responsible for clearing all the dues on time. Companies may outline the costs allowed, and the limits for each expense may require receipts and invoices for clearing the dues and other rules.

2. Corporate Liability Cards 

A corporate liability card is a corporate card whose repayment responsibility lies with the company that issues the card to its employees. This gives the employee more financial relief since they will not be directly responsible for repaying the dues. These will also come with limits and guidelines that the company issues. A corporate liability card makes it easier for the company to track payments and pay the dues directly instead of waiting for employees to raise reimbursement slips.

3. Virtual Cards 

A virtual business card or a digital business card is similar to a physical card – only it is issued virtually. They are digitised cards that are easy to issue and easy to ditch. As your company grows, you will need to keep track of employee expenses. Issuing physical corporate cards can become expensive and cumbersome. Instead, issuing virtual cards makes it easy to keep track, they're harder to lose, have better security and can be monitored easily.

Benefits of corporate cards 

Issuing corporate cards to employees can have benefits for your small business as well as your employees.

Benefits for companies 

1.     Real-time visibility of expenses

Issuing a corporate card to your employees can help you gain better control over business expenses. You can get an easy overview of the spends your employees are making and receive updates real-time. You can set limits on the amount that employees can spend and allow spending only in specific categories or also allow spending only with specific merchants. There will be increased transparency for all business-related expenses that employees undertake.

2.    Increased security

When you issue a corporate card, you can ensure that the security and safety aspects are taken care of. All corporate cards come with top-notch security options that make it safe for your employees to use. If you issue virtual cards, you can be even more stringent with security. You don't have to worry about lost cards or compromised information.  You can block/cancel cards instantly, online. If they are temporarily not being used, you can freeze them too.

3.    Improved expense management 

With corporate cards, expense management becomes easier. Apart from complete transparency, some providers will also allow you to integrate your corporate cards with your expense management system and accounting systems. This will make your expense management process smooth and hassle-free while making it easier for you to close books of accounts. 

4.    Ease of use

Corporate cards are straightforward to issue and use. As long as you are a registered business, you can apply for as many corporate cards as you need for your employees.

5.    Saving money 

Corporate cards provide numerous benefits and perks such as travel benefits, discounts, offers and cashbacks. Using these perks carefully can help you save money in the long run. 

For employees

1.    Expense management gets easier

Using corporate cards for business expenses makes expense management easier even for employees. Employees can easily keep track of expenses and raise appropriate invoices online to get reimbursed. Through features like budgets, employees can track set expense limit on their Corporate credit cards or corporate debit cards and track when they are about to exhaust, thus relieving them the stress of over-shooting their costs. 

2.   Travel benefits 

Corporate cards come with attractive features. Corporate cards provide travel benefits for employees who need to travel a lot for business purposes. These could be flight upgrades, lounge access, discounts and other offers on travel. Corporate cards may provide extra hotel benefits during stay such as cashbacks or upgrades. Some companies may also allow employees to use these benefits for personal travel.

3.   Can use rewards programmes 

Just like travel benefits, corporate cards also offer other reward programmes. These could be in the form of reward points or discounts. Or, they could offer discounts on bulk spending. Employees can use these benefits to their advantage on their following business trips.

Drawbacks of corporate cards 

While corporate cards have numerous benefits, it is also essential to be aware of the cons of issuing corporate cards.

1.   Can be expensive 

If you are issuing corporate cards to too many employees in your company, the charges can quickly add up. Issuing multiple corporate cards comes with additional fees in some cases. If you have a large team and every team member has company expenses, you may need to scout for institutions that give you a good deal. Aspire's corporate cards are designed for small businesses with corporate expenses, giving you a good deal on your cards.

2. Long application process 

The application process for new cards can be drawn out lengthy at times. Depending on the institution you apply with, getting a card issued for a new employee may require a lot of paperwork.

3. Requires strict regulation

You may spend well over your budget if you don't have strict rules governing your corporate expenses. If you want to issue corporate cards to your employees, ensure that you have a clear spending guideline so that employees know what expenditure is permitted and what is not.

Who to issue corporate cards to? 

It's not necessary that you issue corporate cards only to company directors and managers. Today, employees at different levels may need to undertake corporate expenses. Keeping this in mind, you can decide to whom to issue corporate cards.

If your employees travel frequently or meet with clients regularly, you can issue corporate cards to them. It becomes simple to track and manage expenses with a corporate credit card or a corporate debit card. Employees in sales, client servicing, mid-level managers who meet with clients, and employees in the purchasing department could be potential candidates to issue corporate cards to.

How to apply for a corporate card? 

The requirements to apply for a corporate credit or debit card vary from one issuer to another. Usually, you will have to submit certain documents such as your business registration details, financials and other information to apply for corporate cards. Some companies may require that you submit your company's credit score to apply for a corporate credit card. This will determine the type of cards and the number of cards you will be eligible for.

Applying for digital cards is much simpler since you can complete the whole process online. For instance, to apply for an Aspire card, you simply need to open an Aspire business account, submit documents online, and you will receive approval for your cards. Aspire corporate cards have many advantages, including cashbacks, low foreign transaction fees, a spend management system, complete transparency and real-time monitoring of your expenses. When making a decision, consider the best corporate credit card in Hong Kong or corporate debit card in Hong Kong. 

Conclusion 

Corporate cards can be an excellent way to track expenses and manage financial spending. It can streamline your expenditure, make it easy for employees to undertake business travel, and manage their expenses without using their personal cards. Now that you know what is a corporate card, how business credit cards work, which credit card is the best in Hong Kong and which corporate cards to use, you can go ahead and apply for them for your business.