Conferma, the leading provider of virtual card technology, has announced the appointment of corporate travel expert Desmond Chong as Director of Business Development, South East Asia.

As part of Conferma’s global strategy for further expansion of corporate virtual payment solutions, Desmond will be committed to developing Conferma`s growing virtual card issuing ecosystem in APAC. The opportunities are immense as the Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing in the world for corporate travel. By 2025, corporate travel spending in Asia-Pacific will more than double to $900 billion from the current $400 billion and will make up half of the global total. [1]

Chong will be based in Southeast Asia’s economic powerhouse and a flagship of corporate travel, data consolidation and financial technology – Singapore. This is a key market with a highly developed understanding of the benefits of virtual card technology for corporate travel. It has been estimated that more than half of all corporate travellers in the region already use their mobile devices to manage travel on the move, including destination research and booking management.[2]

Desmond comes to the post with a highly impressive track record of over 20 years in business travel. He has held senior positions with American Express Global Business Travel and Abacus International, delivering top-line and margin growth by strengthening global TMC and GDS relationships regionally, developing new solutions and ventures and driving product adoption across APAC.

“We are proud to welcome Desmond as a key member of Conferma’s global team.” Said Simon Barker, Conferma CEO. “His business development expertise in the corporate travel industry and history of developing partnerships and initiatives in the APAC business payments space will be exceptionally valuable.”

Desmond Chong, Director of Business Development, South East Asia for Conferma shared: “Having worked with Conferma powered virtual cards at American Express Global Business Travel, I was consistently impressed with the functionality of their technology and the professionalism of their leadership team. I’m excited to be joining a company whose payments technology is ubiquitous, simple and yet meets the increasingly sophisticated demands of the savvy corporate traveller in the APAC region.”

[1]Amadeus Report – Business Travel in Asia Pacific 2016

[2]http://centreforaviation.com/ 2015