Something like this will never work in Germany. 99% of business transactions are done via a simple SEPA transfer, which doesn't incur any fees.
I understand for regular procurement the importance of cost saving. But in product development paying everything with bank transfers rather than with corporate cards sounds like a ballache.
How do feel about shafting all your suppliers? Because that is about the sentiment here.
https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/platinum-cas...
For the grandparent, cash back cards work by charging a higher percentage to the retailer and they haven't seen much traction or support in many European countries. Effectively in the long term they simply raise prices and give a greater cut to the card processor, theoretically they're overall a bad thing for consumers.
Credit cards have some great features:
* buyer protection in case of fraud * delayed payment helps buyer cashflow * instant payment for merchant * no overhead fees compared to handling cash
But, the extra percentage added for cashback is pure externality.
Right now merchants' only option is declining a card type entirely, like some do for AMEX.
Europe's economy is effectively saving perhaps 2% over North America's. I'm assuming here that 0.7% is the useful part credit cards do.
Badically, credit card processing agreements prohibited fees. But as a matter of public interest a lawsuit was brought and fees were allowed. This is still quite recent so we haven't seen any effects.
"Just a cost of doing business" is the point. Europe saves 2% annually compared to our system. A 2% private tax is very large.
US banks do have IBANs, but you still need an account number in order to finish up the process.
You order a bunch of X, get the invoice, pay the invoice within its term ( usually 30 days ).
It is not even cost-saving : we had to conduct businesses before creditcards were widely available.