Trust Payments and Weavr Launch Virtual Cards to Revolutionize Travel Supplier Payments

Trust Payments has launched a virtual card solution for travel businesses to automate supplier settlements and improve reconciliation. By partnering with embedded finance provider Weavr, the fintech is moving beyond merchant acquiring to facilitate the entire payment lifecycle, addressing the high-risk nature of travel industry cash flows through single-use Visa virtual cards in the UK and EEA.

What was announced

On 3 November 2026, Trust Payments announced the launch of Virtual Cards specifically designed for the travel sector. Powered by Weavr’s embedded finance technology, the solution allows eligible travel companies to manage outgoing supplier payments with increased visibility. The product utilizes the Visa Commercial Choice Travel (VCCT) specification, a virtual card solution engineered for commercial entities to handle automated settlements and secure business travel payments in both GBP and EUR.

The system works by linking each single-use Virtual Card to an individual booking. This connection between booking and payment data is intended to simplify the identification, tracking, and reconciliation process for finance teams. Businesses fund their accounts via bank transfer, with all subsequent spending drawn from the available balance. To mitigate the risk of fraud, the single-use card details cannot be reused, and all payments are monitored in real time.

The launch addresses specific vulnerabilities in the travel industry, particularly supplier failure. According to 2025 industry research titled "Protecting Travel Intermediaries," nearly US$60 million has been recovered across 14 airline failures since 2017 through chargebacks. While recovery is not guaranteed, the booking data associated with these Virtual Cards provides the necessary documentation to support chargeback claims under card scheme rules. Additionally, Trust Payments offers rebates on eligible supplier payments, with rates varying based on the card and supplier type.

"Travel businesses have to manage money moving in both directions. We already support our customers in accepting payments from travellers and Virtual Cards mean we can now help them manage supplier payments too. By linking each supplier payment to an individual booking, we can give travel businesses clearer oversight of outgoing spend and reduce the manual work involved in reconciliation. Working with Weavr enables us to extend the payments relationship we already have with travel customers and support more of their payment journey."

Laurence Booth, Group CEO of Trust Payments

The companies involved

Trust Payments is a fintech provider operating across the UK and the European Union. The company has established itself as a significant player in the merchant acquiring space, focusing on helping businesses accept payments from customers. With 27 previous reports on FF News, the firm has a documented history of expanding its technological footprint across various sectors, including retail and gaming. Its move into virtual card issuing represents a strategic expansion from "pay-in" services to "pay-out" solutions.

Weavr is an embedded finance provider that enables businesses to integrate financial services directly into their existing platforms. Led by Co-founder and CEO Alex Mifsud, the company specializes in providing the infrastructure necessary for non-financial or semi-financial firms to offer banking and payment products without building the underlying technology from scratch. Weavr has been featured in 25 FF News stories, highlighting its role in the growth of the "finance-as-a-service" model. By providing the engine for Trust Payments' new virtual cards, Weavr demonstrates how merchant acquirers can leverage embedded finance to deepen their relationships with existing clients.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has followed the growth of both companies closely over the past two years. In late 2026, we covered how Waitrose Extends Trust Retail Partnership to 2031 for Nationwide Inventory Tech Rollout, showcasing Trust Payments' long-term stability in the retail sector. We also reported on the company's geographic expansion, such as Trust Payments Powering Romanian Payments for Viva Games in 2025.

Regarding Weavr, our coverage has focused on their technical milestones and market research. This includes a report on a New Weavr Feature Enables SaaS Embedders to Automate Financial Actions on Behalf of Customers, which simplified financial automation. Furthermore, we highlighted their industry insights in 2025, noting that 92% of SaaS Platforms To Have Embedded Finance Live by End of 2025, New Weavr Research Shows, a trend that this latest partnership with Trust Payments appears to validate.

What this means

This announcement signals a shift in the competitive landscape for merchant acquirers. Traditionally, companies like Trust Payments focused on the "front end" of the transaction—helping merchants take money. By moving into supplier payments via virtual cards, they are encroaching on territory usually held by commercial banks and specialized corporate spend management platforms. For the travel sector, which is notoriously plagued by thin margins and complex reconciliation, the ability to link a specific payment to a specific booking is a significant operational win. It puts pressure on legacy banks to provide more granular data integration or risk losing the "pay-out" side of their corporate accounts to agile fintech challengers.