Visa – WireUp

Visa Platinum business debit cards from Fibank facilitate businesses banking

December 12, 2023 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Fibank (First Investment Bank) has launched a new high-end card product suitable for business customers – Visa Platinum Business Debit. The cards are designed for managing company funds and bring a number of privileges to customers, such as:

• Attractive cash back;

• Travel insurance with comfortable coverage when traveling abroad;

• Exclusive services and other benefits.

Fibank already issues corporate Visa Business Debit cards in each of its branches in Sofia and across the country. The cards can be issued to the manager of the specific company and to persons authorized by the company. They are free of charge for issuance and upon payment in the commercial establishments in Bulgaria and abroad.

With Visa Platinum Business Debit, paying company expenses is fast and secure, making control and accounting significantly easier. On business trips, employees with business debit cards from Fibank can pay flexibly, and reporting to management is just a matter of a few clicks. In case the card is lost or stolen, the preservation of the funds in the account is ensured by reporting this fact to the bank. Cards are canceled and replaced quickly, secure and fast account access being provided immediately.

Visa Platinum Business Debit cards provide participation in a cash back program: reimbursement of 0.2% of the turnover made every 6 months, upon reaching a turnover of at least BGN 10,000 (ATM, money transfer and gambling transactions are excluded from the turnover). They have travel insurance when traveling abroad from Generali with coverage up to USD 15,000. In addition, Fibank customers can benefit from access to business airport lounges with the Lounge Key program and special offers for various hotel discounts worldwide.

The post Visa Platinum business debit cards from Fibank facilitate businesses banking appeared first on The Fintech Buzz.

Bitlocus Partners with Striga to Launch a Crypto-friendly Visa debit Card

May 5, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Bitlocus, a global emerging fintech company that provides a gateway for fiat users to interact with DeFi protocols, partners with Striga to offer a crypto-enabled debit card for eligible Bitlocus platform users.

The card will allow users to use their crypto funds to purchase goods and services the same way as they spend traditional currencies wherever Visa is accepted. That accounts for more than 70 million merchant locations world wide. Bitlocus cards will allow its users to spend their crypto on POS (Point of Sale) devices, withdraw cash from ATMs, or make online purchases.

While benefits for retail customers are obvious, Bitlocus card platform will be beneficial for business clients too. For example,they will be able to make payments with their tokens listed on Bitlocus exchange. In addition, business clients will be provided with an opportunity to have their brand on the card.

Andrius Normantas, CEO at Bitlocus, says: “the card is a natural addition to the portfolio of other Bitlocus products. Digital currencies and the crypto ecosystem in general are gaining momentum, and we want our clients to benefit from this shift as much as possible”.

Bernardo Magnani, CEO at Striga, says: “our Partnership with Bitlocus has been critical in the evolution of Striga as a company and dates to our early days when we were running our own crypto card program under the brand Lastbit. We are honored to have been selected by Bitlocus to power their ambitious crypto-enabled card program and excited to kick-off this new stage in our partnership.”

Both virtual and physical cards will be introduced. The registration to the waiting list will be announced shortly.

Visa and PopID Form Partnership to Launch Facial Verification Payments in the Middle East

April 7, 2022 Published by Roboticulized.com

PopID, a consumer authentication service, and Visa (NYSE: V), the world’s leader in digital payments, announced a partnership to collaborate on launching facial verification payment acceptance in the Middle East region. The goal of the partnership is to provide cardholders with new safe, secure, and innovative ways to pay.

The first operators to welcome PopPay (PopID’s facial biometric payment solution) in the market will be Costa Coffee, MMI, and grocery chain Géant, in addition to Cove Beach at Caesars Palace Dubai and Coca-Cola Arena Dubai, both of which belong to the portfolio of Dubai Holding, the diversified global investment company headquartered in Dubai, UAE.

In addition to select brick-and-mortar businesses of Dubai Holding adopting PopPay as a new way to accept payments, PopID has recently signed an agreement with Dubai Holding to soon establish a joint venture that will support the roll-out of PopPay in the CEE and MENA regions.

During the initial phase of the partnership, Dubai Holding will deploy PopPay at some of its assets across its leading destinations and attractions, which will be followed by the adoption of the payment technology across Dubai Holding’s wider ecosystem and through partners across CEE and MENA region.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, 85% of executives believe biometrics will be used to authenticate the vast majority of payments in the next ten years. “Facial biometric payments are at the forefront of payments innovation, providing cardholders a fast, seamless and most importantly, secure way to authenticate and make a payment,” said Akshay Chopra, Head of Visa CEMEA Innovation & Design. “From across our partner network, we’ve seen heightened interest in co-creating new facial and biometric payments moments. Through this partnership with PopPay, we are keen to help clients roll out biometric payment capabilities faster and with more success.”

Under the alliance with Visa, issuing banks will be invited to join the platform and give their customers the ability to link their facial biometrics to their debit or credit cards to make payments; and acquiring banks will be offered the opportunity to distribute PopID’s proprietary face pay terminals to brick and mortar businesses. “We expect face pay to become the global standard for payments, and we are determined to make PopPay the consumer brand that is used and trusted by people all over the world,” said John Miller, CEO of PopID.

Throughout 2022, the platform will look to further scale across the Middle East region by partnering with key merchants to provide this leading payments technology to consumers. This second international deployment follows the launch of PopPay Japan through a joint venture with a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp.

Visa chooses Callsign as their preferred behavioral biometric and device intelligence identity partner

October 9, 2021 Published by Roboticulized.com

Visa chooses Callsign, as their preferred behavioral biometric digital and device intelligence identity provider. Under the agreement, Visa will introduce Callsign’s behavioral biometric and device fingerprinting solutions to the Visa network of financial institutions, payment service providers (PSPs), and merchants across Europe.

Callsign joins the Visa Fintech Partner Connect programme giving banks, merchants and the wider card ecosystem access to Callsign’s Intelligence driven authentication solutions which positively identify consumers using inherent behavioral biometrics whilst detecting and preventing fraud.

Callsign technology helps banks, merchants and PSPs to answer two questions; is the user who they say they are? And are they permitted to access the service they are requesting? Using machine learning techniques Callsign combines behavioral biometrics, device intelligence and geo-location with multi-factor authentication to help authenticate users’ identities. This approach helps banks, merchants and PSPs to secure and authenticate users’ identity frictionlessly, stopping fraud early and only letting genuine customers access their service and transact safely and seamlessly.

The agreement comes at a time of spiralling fraud, according to a recent report, every second fraudulent transaction in the finance industry was account take over. Card not present fraud (CNP) accounted for 79% of all card fraud across the Single European Payments Area and, figures from UK finance suggest that in the money lost to Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams totalled nearly half a billion (£479 million) in 2020.

“The need to accurately identify users online for digital payments and online banking is critical due to the shift to online transactions in the past 18 months. Financial services organisations are looking for the technology that provides the most secure, accurate and seamless user experience to incorporate into their solutions. We are pleased to be joining the Visa Fintech Partner Connect to work with Europe’s leading fintechs,” concluded Amir Nooriala, Chief Commercial Officer, Callsign.

Visa and Ascenda partner on next-gen loyalty and rewards in Asia Pacific

August 24, 2021 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Visa, the world leader in digital payments, today announced a strategic partnership in Asia Pacific with Ascenda, the loyalty technology company. The payments network will be first globally to leverage Ascenda’s new Nexus platform, which will enable Visa’s partners to adopt a comprehensive new rewards program for their customers.

Reward programs continue to evolve as consumer preferences and behaviours change, in line with larger trends on how people shop. The rise of eCommerce has created new habits and opportunities to engage before, during and after the transaction. The increased role that data plays in the average consumer’s day has led to greater expectations around receiving personalised rewards instead of a general set of benefits. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional benefits like air miles have been less easily used.

With this backdrop of a changing environment, the Visa and Ascenda partnership means card issuers, like banks or fintechs, can deploy rewards programs that are easy to implement and use, in a fraction of the typical lead-time. The digital rewards portal powered by Ascenda comes with offers and promotions from leading merchants via Visa Offers Exchange and Ascenda’s global network.

Rapid implementation of the new platform is possible because the traditional integration points required for new loyalty solutions are removed. By leveraging Visa’s latest API services, Ascenda authenticates customers securely and identifies payment transactions that are eligible for rewards – with minimal action required from the issuer.

Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa, said, “As Visa evolves our business beyond cards, reward programs are becoming more digital, more engaging, more personalised, and easier to adapt to new opportunities. Our partnership with Ascenda ensures Visa is able to deliver loyalty platforms that match the pace of digital adoption our bank and fintech partners need.”

“Visa and Ascenda already have a strong track record of partnering to equip top-tier banks with leading customer engagement solutions,” said Sebastian Grobys, chief commercial officer at Ascenda. “With Visa now leveraging our new Nexus model and integrating Visa’s existing engagement solutions for rapid deployment, we are unlocking significantly greater scale for our collaboration going forward.”

The Visa-Ascenda rewards solution is being rolled out progressively across Asia Pacific.

Meet Visa: Reintroducing the Iconic Visa Brand to Everyone, Everywhere

July 21, 2021 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Inviting the world to ‘Meet Visa,’ the global payments technology company today unveiled the initial phase of its brand evolution spotlighting the diverse capabilities of its network and commitment to enabling global economic inclusion. Aligned closely with the company’s business strategy, this phase includes the debut of a dynamic global marketing campaign and a preview of a modernized look for Visa’s iconic brand.

More than 60 years ago, when Visa was founded, few could imagine a world beyond cash and checks. Visa’s founding vision to introduce a more secure, reliable and convenient currency in digital form began with a simple question: what if money became fully electronic? Today, Visa continues to anticipate the future of digital commerce, providing access through its secure global network working for everyone, everywhere.

“People think they ‘know’ Visa. Consumers and businesses trust the power of those four letters and see it when they open their wallet, pay a vendor, walk into a store or check out online. What they don’t see is how those four letters operate the most dynamic network of people, partnerships and products,” said Lynne Biggar, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer, Visa. “We are on a mission to ensure that Visa is seen as more than a credit card company and understood as a trusted network that drives commerce forward.”

While Visa continues to shape the physical and digital credit or debit card transaction, it also increasingly sits at the center of enabling money movement. A company built on access to economic inclusion, the Visa network connects 3.6 billion credentials, over 70 million merchant locations, tens of thousands of partners and powers more than $11 trillion in total volume annually. Over the last five years alone, Visa has invested $9 billion in technology to shape the future of commerce, delivering a differentiated set of products, services and benefits.^[1] Visa’s network helps enable a gig-worker with the flexibility to get paid in real time, facilitates person to person payments that can send and receive money between billions of cards and accounts worldwide, and large corporate payments to be made more effortlessly across borders, as just a few examples.

Illustrating the scope of Visa’s capabilities, initial elements of Visa’s brand evolution include:

‘Meet Visa’ films spotlight the power of the network. Developed by Visa’s global creative agency of record, award-winning Wieden+Kennedy, Visa is unveiling a short film directed by Malik Hassan Sayeed that invites the world to ‘Meet Visa,’ a network working for everyone. Complementing this introductory film is a series of shorter digital films and photography that showcase the breadth of the Visa network working to provide access and advancing commerce for real people in real places around the world. Brought to life by some of the best and most diverse creative talent including Sayeed, Visa also worked with photographer Camilla Falquez and Argentinian directing team Pantera & Co. – Brian Kazez, Pato Martinez and Francisco Canton – to vividly capture moments such as:

New Visa brand identity symbolizes change. Visa has long stood for trust, security, acceptance and inclusion. These core values, in addition to the goal of enabling access for everyone to participate in the global economy, will be expressed through a modernized, dynamic visual brand identity, built in partnership with leading global brand design firm Mucho. The ‘Meet Visa’ campaign shares an initial glimpse into the evolved visual brand identity launching later this year, featuring refreshed colors for digital impact, a custom font created for optimal digital experiences and an updated brand symbol designed to express the purpose behind the organization.

Over the course of 2021, Visa’s new brand identity will become visible in all 200+ countries and territories Visa operates in, cutting across the company’s primary business strategy encompassing:

Consumer payments, focusing on expanding access and moving the $17 trillion spent in cash and checks globally to digital payments.
New payment flows including cross-border person-to-person payments and a range of value-added services that help businesses of all sizes navigate today’s landscape; identify new growth opportunities; and maintain our mission of making Visa the most secure, resilient and reliable network.
A diversity of offerings and solutions through burgeoning partnerships with fintechs and established brands, relationships with governments around the world and innovative technology built for the future.

“We are capturing the bold ambition of Visa with this brand evolution as a way to express what we stand for and what we strive for,” continued Biggar. “With the world reopening and with money increasingly moving in new ways, there’s no better time to showcase the work we do and the impact a purpose-driven brand with Visa’s scale can have to enable individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.”

Contis and Bitpanda issue multi-asset debit card

March 3, 2021 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

A new Visa debit card from European neobroker Bitpanda launched this week. Combining Contis’ unique “zero-balance” Buffer technology with Bitpanda’s European-wide, multi-service platform has created one of the most powerful multi-asset propositions available – the Bitpanda Card.

New ‘zero balance’ technology removes the need to liquidate assets before spending. Any digital assets a user has in their Bitpanda account can now be converted automatically to fiat at point-of sale, both online and in store, wherever Visa is accepted.

With more than 55 digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, precious metals and fiat available to hold on the Bitpanda platform, this card pushes the boundaries of crypto and asset spending in Europe. The card can be linked to any asset in a user’s Bitpanda portfolio and through the app, cardholders can easily switch, say from cryptocurrency to gold, and spend in real-time.

Contis Executive Chairman, Peter Cox, said: “Crypto continues to move forward at pace, and Contis is proud to spearhead the charge with partners such as Bitpanda. We’ve seen record levels of crypto investing this past year and cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used as an everyday currency as well as an asset.

“Combining the practicality of fiat with the benefits of blockchain has helped prove the long-term legitimacy of digital finance. A card that allows seamless spending is one of the leading-edge innovations for crypto accounts.

“We’re seeing considerable uptake among crypto providers for card products that include ‘zero balance’ capabilities. In partnership with Contis, industry leaders such as Bitpanda continue to drive innovation in spending crypto and deliver cutting edge products for their customers.”

Eric Demuth, co-founder and CEO of Bitpanda, said: “Launching the Bitpanda Card together with Contis is another step in our leading vision of the personal finance revolution, allowing everyone to spend any of their assets, be that with crypto, metals, or fiat, as they please – easily, 24/7. No topping up is required. Everything that holds value should be treated equally and should be possible to use as you wish. The Bitpanda Card is the missing piece of the puzzle in the world of digital finance.”

Wirex Becomes Principal Member of Visa Network in Europe

December 22, 2020 Published by TheBlockchainExaminer.com

Leading payments platform, Wirex, has become a principal member of Visa in Europe, a highly respected achievement for the London-based business with ambitious plans for 2021.

Having successfully completed Visa’s FinTech Fast Track Programme, Wirex have secured the sought after principal membership from the global payments company. Principal membership will allow Wirex to issue Visa cards themselves, offer new innovative products, and apply for additional licences.

The announcement comes at a pivotal time for the digital economy, with Bitcoin recently hitting its all time high¹ and a series of large industry players recently showing support for cryptocurrency.

Wirex already offers their services to over 3 million people across the EEA and APAC regions, and research shows the use of crypto is continuing to grow². Wirex themselves have experienced a 271% increase in the number of crypto exchanges on their platform compared to this time last year.³

“Digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places,” said Cuy Sheffield, Senior Director and Head of Cryptocurrency, Visa. “We’re excited to work with innovative Fintechs like Wirex and enable their customers to use digital currencies at more than 61 million merchants on the Visa network.”

Pavel Matveev, CEO and Co-Founder of Wirex, said that: “It’s been our core goal to unite the traditional and digital economies, and collaborations with trusted global payments companies such as Visa are making this possible by providing straight and cost-effective solutions for utilising crypto in the everyday. It’s no easy feat to achieve principal membership and will present numerous opportunities to continue developing a revolutionary product.”

Wirex have had a long-standing partnership with Visa, having worked together to ensure Wirex was the first company in the world to issue a contactless crypto-enabled debit card in 2014⁴. The card enables customers to seamlessly spend up to 20 traditional and cryptocurrencies at over 61 million locations globally. Linked up to a next-generation app where they can be bought, held, exchanged or sold, the company was also the first to develop a cryptocurrency rewards scheme, Cryptoback, that rewards users up to 1.5% in Bitcoin for any purchases made with their debit card.

After a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign in October that raised nearly $5 million (US), the announcement rounds off a hugely successful year for the SBI group-backed company. With an overhaul of their rewards programme and launch in the US imminent, it’s thought that 2021 will be an even more extraordinary year for Wirex.

Tag: Visa