The Best Corporate Cards for International Ad Agencies: Features and Top Picks
An advertising agency based in London buys $200,000 of Google and Meta inventory for a client in the US. The agency must turn pounds into dollars to do it. The agency can convert at its bank and pay the platforms from a dollar balance, accepting whatever exchange rate the bank sets plus a wire fee to move the money. Or it can use a business card that spends pounds and let the issuer convert at the point of sale, which usually adds a foreign transaction fee of around 3%.
Cost is only part of it. Getting a US account or card in the first place usually means registering a US company and building up a record with it, which is a lot to take on in order to pay for media.
There are corporate cards suited for this exact scenario. Between multi-currency cards, cards that don't charge an FX fee, and global cards that use cryptocurrency to settle spend, advertisers have real options for cutting conversion costs and keeping client spend organized. Below is what to look for, and how five of the available options compare.
Why International Ad Agencies Need Specialized Corporate Cards
Almost every major advertising platform bills in US dollars. Google Ads, Meta, Applovin, LinkedIn, TikTok, and others price in USD by default, and the ad account is tied to whichever entity opened it. For an advertising agency based in London, Toronto, Lagos, or Singapore, that means moving money in a currency it does not hold through a financial system it may not have access to.
The common solution is to form a US entity, which works but takes time. Incorporation is the simpler half of the process; most founders are delayed at the account and card application, which typically requires:
- An EIN and a US business address
- Often a US Social Security number for at least one owner
- US business history to underwrite against
- At many issuers, a personal guarantee, meaning an owner personally promises to repay the balance if the company cannot
Agencies that get through it still pay to convert client money into the USD that funds an ad account. Traditional banks typically build a markup of 2% to 4% into the exchange rate before adding a wire fee, and card issuers commonly add a foreign transaction fee of around 3% on purchases settled in another currency.
At $500,000 a month in ad spend, that can come to five figures a month, on money that is largely passed through to platforms on behalf of clients.
A general-purpose small business card is often a poor fit for this work. A card suited to it can hold or settle in more than one currency, discloses conversion costs clearly, issues enough virtual cards to keep client media separated, and can be approved without an extensive US credit history.
Key Features to Look for in a Corporate Card
Corporate card providers tend to advertise similar benefits. The features below are the ones that most affect what an international agency pays and how easily it operates, ordered roughly by how much money they move.
Multi-Currency Accounts for Ad Spend
A multi-currency account lets a business hold balances in several currencies and spend directly from the one that matches the charge. When a card draws USD from a USD balance, no conversion happens at the point of sale, which removes both the exchange rate markup and the foreign transaction fee. It also moves the timing decision to you, since you can convert in planned amounts and hold the USD until the platform invoice arrives.
Low Foreign Transaction and Conversion Fees
Conversion pricing usually takes one of three forms: a disclosed markup over the interbank rate (the wholesale rate banks trade at), often 0.5% to 1%; a monthly allowance at interbank rates with a fee on volume beyond it; or no stated FX fee at all, with the margin built into the rate you are quoted. The third is the hardest to compare, so ask each provider for the rate you would receive on a sample conversion rather than relying on the fee schedule.
Cross-Border Payment Rails
Agencies also pay freelancers, production houses, and media reps abroad, and the cost of each payment depends on the destination. Local ACH-equivalent transfers are cheap where they exist, SWIFT wires reach almost anywhere but cost more and often lose value to intermediary bank deductions, RTP and FedNow move domestic US payments instantly, and stablecoin transfers can be faster and cheaper than a correspondent wire when the recipient accepts them. Slash supports all four, including SWIFT wires to more than 180 countries and 135 currencies.
US Account Access for Non-US Agencies
If you would rather not form a US company yet, some providers can give a business outside the US a US account and routing number directly, which is often the difference between being able to fund a US ad account and not. Slash's Global USD Account does this for non-US entities, removing the SSN, EIN, and US LLC requirements that block many foreign founders during onboarding, though eligibility varies by country.
Unlimited Virtual Cards
Much of an agency's card spend belongs to clients and has to be attributed cleanly for rebilling, which makes virtual cards more than a security feature. A provider that issues them without limit lets each client, campaign, or platform have its own card number, spend cap, and merchant restrictions, so exposure is contained if a campaign overspends or an ad account is compromised, and one client's transactions stay separable from the rest.
Expense Tracking and Accounting Integrations
Card data is only useful if it reaches your books without manual work, which means automatic receipt capture and a two-way accounting sync rather than a monthly statement to rekey. Slash issues unlimited virtual cards with real-time transaction visibility, has its AI financial assistant Twin text cardholders for receipt photos and match them to transactions, and syncs both ways with QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct.
Rewards on Ad Spend
Because media buying dominates an agency's card volume, a competitive flat cash back rate on all spend will usually be worth more than category multipliers. It is worth checking how rewards are calculated as well as the headline rate, since many issuers exclude foreign transaction fees from the calculation, meaning 1.5% back on a purchase that carried a 3% conversion fee is still a net loss. Slash pays up to 2% cash back, at 1.5% on the free plan and 2% or more on Pro.
Top 5 Corporate Card Options for Non-US Ad Agencies
Slash Global Card
The Slash Global Account is built for agencies in over 130 countries. Agencies can separate campaigns onto dedicated virtual cards, set budgets at the card or group level, monitor spend in real time, and manage the banking and payment activity behind each client from the same platform. For international agencies with significant US ad spend, Slash offers US account details and corporate cards without requiring a US entity.
- Card type: Corporate charge cards for US and international businesses, including virtual cards
- Rewards: 1% cash back on eligible US-merchant spend
- Controls: Per-card and group limits, merchant-category controls, instant freezing, and role-based permissions
- Fees: No required monthly fee; $25/month for Slash Pro. 1% (min $0.40) currency-conversion fee may apply
- Requirements: Eligible foreign business entity. No US business entity required for Global USD account, available in 130+ countries.
Slash Visa Platinum Card
The Slash Visa Platinum Card is for agencies that already hold a US entity, whether they are headquartered in the US or run a US subsidiary from abroad. It offers the same card controls and payment tools as the Global Card, with a higher cash back rate of up to 2%. There is no hard credit check to qualify and no personal guarantee to sign, plus there’s no preset spend limit.
- Card type: Corporate charge card issued by Column N.A., with physical and unlimited virtual cards
- Rewards: Up to 2% cash back
- Controls: Per-card and group limits, merchant-category controls, instant freezing, role-based permissions, and receipt capture through Twin
- Fees: No required monthly fee; $25/month for Slash Pro, 1% (min $0.40) currency-conversion fee may apply
- Requirements: A US business entity and EIN; no personal guarantee required
Mercury IO Card
Mercury is a business banking platform widely used by US startups, and IO is the charge card that comes with the account. For an agency already banking there and spending mostly in US dollars it is a solid choice, though the economics shift once a decent share of spend settles in another currency.
- Card type: Charge card, repaid daily until balances reach $15,000 and monthly after that
- Rewards: 1.5% cash back, calculated on spend after conversion fees are excluded
- Controls: Custom daily, weekly, or monthly limits and expiration dates per card, cards lockable to individual merchants from a list of more than 1,000, company-wide merchant and category restrictions, and spend policies requiring a receipt or note above a set amount
- Fees: No annual fee, but a 3% conversion fee on every non-USD transaction, which is not returned if the charge is later refunded. Currency conversion fees applied to the transaction are excluded from cashback calculations.
- Requirements: A US entity and a Mercury account, with the limit set by balances held there plus linked accounts rather than by credit history
Airwallex Borderless Card
Airwallex is a payments company built for businesses operating in several countries at once, and its cards follow from that. Rather than converting on each purchase, teams hold balances in the currencies they earn and spend in, which suits an agency collecting from clients in one market while buying media in another.
- Card type: Multi-currency corporate cards, physical and virtual, spending directly from the currency balances you hold
- Fees: Free entry plan with no international card fees and paid tiers from about $12 per user per month; FX runs roughly 0.5% over interbank for major currencies and about 1% for others
- Rewards: Up to 2% cash rebate on qualifying US dollar spend, subject to conditions
- Requirements: A business entity in a supported market, with the free plan covering up to 10 spend users
- Notable: Accounts and settlement in 20-plus currencies, so client collections and ad spend can sit in the same platform
Revolut Business Card
Revolut Business brings the currency exchange the company is known for on the consumer side to business accounts and cards. It is sold in monthly plans that each include a fixed amount of exchange at interbank rates, so the fit depends less on features than on whether your conversion volume lines up with a tier.
- Card type: Multi-currency corporate cards, both physical and virtual, with up to 50 active virtual cards per team member
- Fees: Plans from about $10 to $140 a month, with cards issued beyond the plan allowance at $49 each
- Rewards: No published cash back program; the value sits in the interbank exchange allowance instead
- Requirements: A plan tier matched to your conversion volume, since the interbank allowance runs about $1,000 a month on Basic, $20,000 on Grow, and $80,000 on Scale, then roughly 0.6% beyond it and about 1% outside market hours
- Notable: Spending in 150-plus currencies, with limits set by day, week, month, or quarter
Tips for Managing Cash Flow Effectively for Advertising Spend
Media buying creates a difficult cash flow pattern. The agency fronts the spend, the platform charges within days, and the client pays on net 30 or net 60 terms. A corporate card can bridge that gap, though it works best alongside a few deliberate practices.
Match card billing cycles to client payment terms
The period between when a platform charges your card and when the balance comes due is effectively free financing, and on a charge card that period is short by design. Confirm whether a card repays daily, weekly, or monthly before committing to it, since a card that collects daily provides very little of it.
If clients pay on net 60 terms and your card settles within days, the agency is financing the difference, and the operating balance needs to be sized accordingly.
Issue a separate virtual card for each client or platform
A dedicated card number per client, limited to that client's approved budget, serves three purposes. It caps exposure if a campaign overspends or an ad account is compromised. It simplifies rebilling, since the transactions for one client sit on one card rather than within a shared statement. It also limits disruption, because a declined or frozen card affects one client's campaigns rather than all of them.
Convert currency on a planned schedule
Holding a USD balance and funding it in planned amounts means the agency chooses when conversion happens. Allowing each ad platform to charge a local-currency card instead hands that decision to the provider and incurs a conversion cost on every transaction. For an agency converting in the same direction each month, this timing control can be worth more than the difference between rewards rates.
Request deposits and hold client media funds separately
The most direct solution to the funding gap is contractual: request a deposit or advance funding on large media budgets, particularly for new clients or seasonal spikes. Where that is not possible, keep money clients have already paid for future media separate from operating cash, so that a strong month of collections does not obscure an upcoming obligation.
Reconcile spend continuously
Real-time transaction data and automatic receipt matching allow reconciliation to happen throughout the month rather than concentrating it at period close. This affects cash flow as well as bookkeeping, because the sooner media spend is categorized by client, the sooner it can be invoiced. Spend analytics that aggregate across cards and accounts also make it easier to identify clients consuming more service time than their retainer covers.
Spend Globally with Slash
For an agency based outside the US, the hardest part of buying US media is often getting a US account at all. The Slash Global Account gives businesses in more than 130 countries US account details and corporate cards without registering a US entity first, so client budgets can be funded and spent in dollars from wherever the agency operates.
Inside the account, each client or campaign can sit on its own virtual card with budgets set at the card or group level and spend visible in real time. Cards earn 1% cash back on eligible US-merchant spend, currency conversion runs at 1% with a $0.40 minimum, and there is no required monthly fee. Agencies that already hold a US entity can use the Slash Visa Platinum Card instead, which earns up to 2% back.
Here’s what you get when you go global with Slash:
- US account and routing details to receive USD payments without forming a US entity.
- Send and receive ACH transfers through the account.
- Create and send invoices from your Global USD account and collect payment by ACH, wire, or supported stablecoins directly into the account.⁴
- Send and receive supported USDC and USDT transfers in addition to using USDC to fund card spend.
- Create physical and virtual cards with per-card limits, card-group budgets, merchant-category controls, instant freezing, and role-based permissions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do travel rewards programs work for corporate cards?
Most corporate cards pay either a flat cash back rate or tiered points that earn more in travel-related categories like airfare, hotels, and rideshare. Points typically redeem for statement credits, travel booked through the issuer's portal, or transfers to airline and hotel partners, but the value per point can vary. For agencies where media spend dominates the card, a flat cash back rate often produces more effective cash value than category multipliers, so it is worth comparing against your actual spend mix.
The Best Software for Travel Agencies: Top Picks for 2026
What are the benefits of using a corporate card for international transactions?
A corporate card gives you a single settlement point for spend in multiple countries, with controls and reporting attached to each card. Compared with wires, card payments are immediate, reversible through chargebacks in a dispute, and they generate transaction-level data you can attribute to a client or campaign.
International Business Payments: Methods, Fees, and Best Options
How can I reduce currency conversion fees?
Compare providers on the total cost of conversion (the markup over the interbank rate plus any fixed fee) rather than on the advertised fee alone, since some providers charge nothing explicitly and take their margin in the rate. Converting in fewer, larger blocks and avoiding conversions outside market hours can also reduce what you pay.
Can a non-US ad agency get a US corporate card without forming a US company?
Usually not from a traditional bank, which will generally ask for a US entity, an EIN, and often a Social Security number for an owner. However, Slash's Global Account gives eligible businesses in 130+ countries access to USD corporate cards without requiring a US entity.
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