TMU Management partners with Travel Ledger to protect B2B travel payments

TMU Management has partnered with Travel Ledger to embed supplier payment protection into the payments platform’s Premium product, helping travel suppliers manage agent insolvency risk while enabling more flexible credit and settlement terms.

The partnership combines TMU’s travel distribution cover with Travel Ledger’s technology for automating billing, reconciliation and settlement between travel agents and suppliers.

Available exclusively to participating Travel Ledger Premium suppliers, the cover protects payments against agent default or insolvency.

The companies said the arrangement could give suppliers greater confidence when extending credit, while reducing collateral requirements and improving working capital for agents.

Participating suppliers pay a single amount for the combined offering, rather than paying separately for collection services and failure cover.

Traditionally, suppliers have managed the risk of agent insolvency through upfront payments, restrictive credit terms or additional financial security. While these measures protect suppliers, they can tie up agents’ cash and limit their ability to grow.

Under the new arrangement, payment protection is incorporated into Travel Ledger Premium, an all-inclusive subscription combining the platform’s standard data and collection services with cover provided through TMU’s policy.

The two companies worked together to establish underwriting criteria, data-sharing processes, risk triggers and transaction monitoring to incorporate the cover without slowing down settlements.

Sami Doyle, chief executive of TMU Management, said: “The travel industry has made significant progress in modernising payments, but the risk behind those payments still needs to be addressed,”

“Suppliers need confidence that they will be paid, while agents need fair and workable trading terms.”

Doyle said embedding protection into Travel Ledger’s Premium offering could reduce reliance on upfront payments and financial security requirements, helping strengthen trading relationships across the sector.

Travel Ledger said participating Premium suppliers had shown greater willingness to extend credit to agents whose default risk was covered under the framework.

Agents had also benefited from reduced collateral requirements and improved working capital efficiency.

Roberto Da Re, CEO of Travel Ledger, said the partnership had strengthened the platform’s proposition by combining payment automation with financial protection.

“By embedding their travel distribution cover within our Premium product, we’ve been able to combine automation with assurance, giving our Premium suppliers the confidence that every transaction is secure,” he said.

Doyle said the model could change how financial risk is managed between travel agents and suppliers by protecting payments while allowing greater flexibility in trading arrangements.

The companies plan to continue developing the framework, with potential applications including new forms of trade credit, escrow and account-to-account settlement.