Vital.org Corporate Card Program for Public Sector

Vital.org Corporate Card Program for Public Sector

In July 2009, Vital.org called for an open tender to appoint a single bank / card issuer to provide corporate card services to ministries, departments, organs of state and statutory boards. The tender contract was awarded to Citibank N.A., Singapore branch / MasterCard Worldwide and effected on 1 December 2009. The period contract is 3+1 year contract from 1 December 2009 to 30 November 2012 (with an option to renew for another year).

Public agencies which require corporate card services may tap on this contract and apply directly with the appointed contractor. Participation in the Vital.org Corporate Card Program by public agencies will be on voluntary basis. There are a total of 8 agencies which are already onboard the Vital.org Corporate Card Program. They are MICA, MOM, MCYS, MOE, MEWR, RP, SCB, CUSTOMS.  As at 30 June 2010, a total of 252 corporate cards have been issued.

There are 17 public agencies in the documentation stage with Citibank to establish corporate cards.  They are: MinLaw, MOT, SLA, HDB, IRAS, NLB, HSA, LTA, CCS, ITE, NCSS, EMA, IPTO, NPS, SupCourt, SubCourt and Vital.org.  Vital.org's Travel Management is also working with other agencies for one-to-one introductory / scoping meetings.

Agencies which use corporate cards will receive a monthly billing from Citibank on all the transactions charged on the card for the month. Agency will only need to make payment to one party i.e. Citibank, once a month on items purchased using the corporate card.

Vital.org Corporate Card program will consist of several card solutions. The main card solutions are:

(a) Corporate Credit Card


The Corporate Credit Card is a physical plastic card that is typically issued to frequent travellers to charge for overseas official travel expenses (i.e. hotel charges, meals, ground transportation). The card can also be used by officers for local purchases such as conference registrations, welfare/ team-bonding activities and payments at restaurants.

(b) Corporate Procurement Card


The Corporate Procurement Card is a physical plastic card usually issued to a designated purchasing officer within a department or to the procurement or finance officer in the public agency to charge for official procurement expenses (i.e corporate gift, office supplies) incurred in Singapore.

The main difference between the Corporate Credit Card and Corporate Procurement Card is that more merchant categories are blocked by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for Corporate Procurement Card as per the Banking Act Chapter 19 Banking Credit Card and Charge Card Regulations.

For example, eating places and restaurants are blocked for Corporate Procurement Card. This means that officers holding Corporate Procurement Cards will not be able to use the cards in eating places and restaurants.

(c) Central Travel Accounts


Central Travel Accounts (CTAs) are 'virtual' accounts set up for public agencies to charge for air tickets. These are 'cardless' accounts 'lodged' at the appointed travel agency to pay for travel costs (i.e airfares) incurred by officers on official travel.

Financial benefits offered in the Corporate Card Program are:

(a) Financial rebates at 0.4% on total cards spending;

(b) No annual subscription fee and No transaction fee, except late payment fees;

(c) No foreign currency conversion fee for converting foreign currency charges to local currency for billing;

(d) Corporate Liability Waiver Insurance at no cost by protecting the Agency against unauthorized use of cards by the employees up to USD$25,000 per card holder, and up to USD$1.65 million per Agency per annum;

(e) Agency is not liable for third-party fraud;

(f) Travel Insurance Coverage;

(g) Comprehensive web-based Reporting and Card Adminstration system at no cost, allows better visibility on expenditures within 48 hours of transactions being charged on card;

(h) Enhanced process efficiency through significant reduction in staff claims processing, reduction in handling of multiple vendor invoices as payment is now to one vendor ie Citibank, reduction in paperwork management and multiple vendor payment enquiries, simplified bank reconciliation;

(i) Flexible billing cycle date for Agency selection with 4 options, namely on 6th, 15th, 20th and 26th of each month; and

(j) Built-in control and fraud prevention mechanism.