Top Middle-Market Firms Turn Virtual Cards Into Working-Capital Tools

Virtual cards are evolving from accounts-payable instruments into working-capital tools that let middle-market companies manage when cash leaves the business while suppliers are paid promptly. The 2025–2026 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index, produced by PYMNTS Intelligence for Visa, surveyed 1,457 CFOs and treasurers across 23 countries. The findings matter because combining payment execution with bank-provided financing can improve liquidity, reconciliation and cash-flow visibility without requiring companies to hold larger idle reserves.

PYMNTS reported on July 24, 2026, that corporate and virtual-card adoption among top performers reached 10%, roughly five times the rate for lower-performing peers. Companies treating virtual cards equally as payment and financing tools reported average benefits of $23 million, or 4.6% of revenue, versus $16.7 million and 3.8% for firms using them mainly for payables. Their Working Capital Index score was also about 59, compared with 54 for payment-only users, underscoring the performance gap tied to more strategic deployment.