U.S. Bank's parent company U.S. Bancorp is acquiring
SME-focused travel and expense platform TravelBank, the company announced on
Tuesday.
TravelBank and U.S. Bank already have been partners for more
than a year with the
integration U.S. Bank's virtual payment tool Instant Card into TravelBank,
announced in September 2020. With that integration, travel managers using
TravelBank, many of whom do not have traditional corporate card programs, are
able instantly to issue virtual cards for purchases made with TravelBank's
online booking tool.
With the acquisition of TravelBank, U.S. Bank said it will
be able to speed up the integration of digital payments into the commercial
sector.
"In partnering with TravelBank over the past year,
we’ve seen how effective the solution is in improving efficiencies for
businesses," U.S. Bank vice chair of payment services Shailesh Kotwal said
in a statement. "This acquisition will allow us to significantly expand
our client base and deliver even more value to our customers."
U.S. Bank expects to close the acquisition before the end of
the year and did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition. A U.S.
Bank spokesperson said there are no plans to rebrand TravelBank under the U.S.
Bank umbrella, and co-founder and CEO Duke Chung will continue to manage
TravelBank, reporting to U.S. Bank head of corporate payment and treasury
solutions Jeff Jones.
The acquisition is the latest of several by large financial
services firms of technology tools in the travel and expense space. Capital One
last month acquired
the workforce and software platform of corporate travel management startup Lola,
which had suspended operations a few weeks prior, and the firm last year also
acquired mobile flight disruption management and rebooking tool Freebird.
American Express, meanwhile, acquired
artificial intelligence-powered personal travel assistant Mezi in 2018 to
power its own travel concierge service for cardholders.