Digital wallets are accelerating workplace spend but finance teams are flying blind
Contactless payments have become the default, and finance teams must shift from manual reconciliation to active oversight or risk losing control of spend, as digital wallets redefine corporate spend.
The European Central Bank’s latest payments report reveals how non‑cash payments jumped nearly 8%, with nearly 30 billion such card payments recorded in the first half of 2025.
At the same time, the way staff pay for work-related expenses is changing. As mobile wallet use accelerates across the UK and Ireland, day-to-day business spend is now digital by default. In the UK, cash accounts for less than 10% of all payments, while in Ireland, 87.9% point-of-sale card transactions were contactless.
According to Richard Jones, vice president of product at ExpenseIn, day‑to‑day spend is now predominantly digital, but without real‑time visibility, there will be a growing volume of ‘mystery spend’ on finance systems.
“Employees are increasingly paying by phone. Digital wallet spending is not a temporary consumer trend, but a long-term structural shift in how money is moving. The question isn’t whether wallet payments are happening but if finance teams are seeing them in real time or finding them later with no context,” Jones said.
“When wallet payments aren’t connected to an expense system with real-time capture, an Apple Pay charge can appear days later with no receipt, project code or explanation. Multiply that by dozens of employees, and suddenly, businesses aren’t managing spend; they’re reconstructing it.
“That shift creates a fork in the road. Digital wallets used in isolation can increase cleanup and reconciliation work, while wallets connected to integrated, governed cards can reduce reimbursements and tighten control.”
The impact is no longer anecdotal. When payments sit outside capture and policy enforcement, issues like unclear merchant data and delayed approvals quickly add up.
Jones continues: “For employees, paying is effortless and fast: tap, done, move on. But the real risk isn’t the tap, it’s whether cards are issued and used with the right governance in place. Finance teams still need immediate clarity on who spent what and whether it’s in policy. Common issues such as out‑of‑policy purchases and delayed visibility stem from spend happening outside controlled systems, not from digital wallets themselves.
“Work also rarely aligns with card delivery timelines. New hires start, contractors need to buy materials, or projects require unplanned purchases on the spot. When people are waiting on a physical card, they’re often pushed toward personal spending and reimbursements, which adds extra admin for finance teams.
“At the same time, the wider payments ecosystem is shifting. The Payments Association’s 2026 manifesto highlights how real-time payments, tokenisation and wallet adoption are becoming the norm. Virtual cards are a natural extension of that shift, giving employees faster access to spend while still keeping it governed.
“The key is making sure each wallet transactions feed directly into a system that can capture this audit trail. With instant receipt prompts and automatic checks, businesses can reduce bottlenecks and cut down on reimbursements.”
Security must also be a top priority as digital wallets become more common in business spending.
The removal of the UK’s £100 contactless limit from March will make higher‑value tap‑to‑pay more routine, raising expectations around how wallet spend is controlled and monitored. That doesn’t make wallets riskier, but it does raise the bar for governance. Technologies like tokenisation mean real card details aren’t shared during a transaction, reducing exposure if a merchant is compromised.
“Whether a business uses physical or virtual cards, both can be added to mobile wallets and protected with user authentication such as Face ID, fingerprint or passcode,” Jones added. “The key difference is ensuring cards are issued with clear limits and connected into expense systems, so access can be managed quickly if needed.”
“Controls should also apply no matter how someone pays: physical card, virtual card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. This includes clear spending limits, day-based usage rules and merchant and category restrictions so out-of-policy spend is blocked or flagged immediately.”
Jones concluded, “Digital wallets aren’t a threat to financial control; delayed visibility is. As payments move in real time, finance systems should follow. When wallet payments run through the same limits, rules and approval workflows as everything else, finance teams gain more visibility and employees get faster, simpler ways to pay. So, the question for businesses isn’t whether digital wallets belong in business spending, but whether they’re set up in a way finance teams can properly manage.”