Card issuers spruce up their business credit cards

With business conditions improving and banks looking to increase growth in their lending portfolios, competition in the business cards rewards market is picking up.

A report released last week by researcher Canstar said the number of business credit cards offering rewards was increasing.

Canstar gave Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, American Express, Diners Club and ANZ top ratings in its review of business credit card rewards.

Canstar said high earn rates and flexibility were the features it rated highly. The Commonwealth Bank Business Platinum Awards companion American Express card has an earn rate of three points per dollar sent.

The most flexible cards programs give users to option of redeeming frequent flyer points, merchandise, shopping vouchers or cash.

One credit union got an honourable mention. Canstar said that for business spending of around $60,000 a year on a card, Coastline Credit Union offers outstanding value.

Coastline uses Indue's Rewarder program, which automatically loads points onto the card so they can be redeemed through everyday purchases.

Card issuers are anticipating that the use of business cards will increase as business conditions continue to improve.

According to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Small Business Index, four out of five small business owners expect sales to grow or at least stay the same, and employment to increase.

And according to a recent Dun & Bradstreet survey, twice as many businesses intend to increase their investment in the months ahead, compared with those that will reduce spending.

D&B also found that 18.4 per cent of businesses plan to apply for credit in coming months, compared with nine per cent at the same time last year.

The latest National Australia Bank monthly business survey said that confidence softened a little in February but remained above trend. Businesses remained hopeful of a recovery, despite mixed signals on business activity.