Visa Is Bridging The Divide Between FinTechs And Traditional Institutions To Innovate A Better Industry

So far, the increasing success of fintech companies has often come at the cost of, or in spite of, traditional finance and banking institutions. Fintechs often focus on being challengers to the status quo, offering improved iterations of focused services previously serviced by banks who act as a financial supermarket to their clients. In many cases, fintechs are glorified as companies pitted against traditional institutions as the success story, rather than working together. Hoping to change this narrative, global payments giant Visa is expanding Visa Fintech Partner Connect, an initiative that will live up to its name in action.

Initially launched in Europe in November of 2020, Visa Partner Connect will now expand to be available in the U.S., the Asia Pacific Region, Latin America, and CEMEA (Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa). The goal of Visa Partner Connect is to help the payments company’s clients find and pair up with technology partners that can help innovate services through collaboration. The program opens clients up to a curated list of fintechs that have been carefully selected by Visa to confidently partner up with banks and financial institutions, or other fintechs, to create “digital first experiences, without the cost and complexity of building the back-end technology in-house.”

Thanks to Visa Partner Connect, companies who are clients that have vision without the technological or innovation team will now have the ability to connect with digital first, next generation payments and banking solutions to develop their new products and services. The idea is to harness the power of technology and innovation to improve cardholder digital experiences and open up new value for Visa cardholders and their global clients through collaboration. On offer, is exclusive commercial packages that help streamline the onboarding costs of such joint ventures and commercial partnerships. Further benefits include reduced implantation fees and pricing discounts on services.

For Visa, the benefit is to see their clients build optimized digital experiences for the consumers they service, meeting their demands with the latest and most appropriate innovations possible - and quickly. As a payments giant with vast resources, Visa will be able to contribute to improving banking and the finance sector. Importantly, the program bridges the gap between fintech and traditional institutions, allowing them to grow together rather than apart.

To date, Visa has selected 60 partners that it will be offering to clients. They all offer a range of activities across the many facets of financial services including back-office functions, and new front-end services.