Visa and TransferWise Expand Partnership Worldwide

Need to Know

• Visa and TransferWise will work together to connect fintechs to VisaNet, Visa’s global processing network, via Visa Cloud Connect.
• Through the partnership, TransferWise will expand its multi-currency debit cards throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, U.K., and US.
• Visa Cloud Connect is currently in the pilot phase with TransferWise; its global launch is planned for August 2021.

Analysis

TransferWise and Visa have entered into a new partnership that will allow the London-based lending company to expand its services globally.

The two companies will team up for Visa Cloud Connect, which allows fintechs and partners to connect to Visa’s global processing network, VisaNet, via the cloud. A new agreement between Visa and TransferWise will enable the expansion of TransferWise’s multi-currency debit cards in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, UK and US, by leveraging Visa Cloud Connect’s infrastructure.

Transferwise’s multi-currency account allows individual consumers and businesses to convert 55 currencies at the real exchange rate. The company also has a multi-currency debit card, which lets customers spend or withdraw from any of their currency balances. Without the ability to leverage Visa’s Cloud connect technology, expanding the offering into new markets would have required TransferWise to invest in local data centers and telecom infrastructure, as well as in new payment hardware.

“The TransferWise team came to us last year with a challenge: enable the global rollout of their debit card program, and do it entirely in the cloud,” Jack Forestell, executive vice president and chief product officer for Visa said in a statement. “It was an exciting opportunity for us to partner with TransferWise and show how we’re thinking and working differently to help today’s fintech innovators scale up quickly.”

Visa’s Connect platform provides a secure cloud-based connection to VisaNet, which is Visa’s electronic payments network (the largest of its kind in the world). The platform integrates Visa-hosted security services such as transaction encryption and PIN key management, combining tech and financial services to help clients such as TransferWise, which are already cloud-based, bring their products to market quickly.

“We’ve been working to remove borders in the world’s financial networks,” said Kristo Käärmann, TransferWise co-founder and CEO. “Cards should work the same across borders too. In Visa, we found a partner who shares our ambitions to make money work seamlessly no matter where you are. We’re excited to see how the outcome of our collaboration impacts the next generation of multinational financial institutions across the globe.”

TransferWise previously announced the expansion of its partnership with Mastercard, which was established in 2018, to offer a borderless debit card in any country where both TransferWise and Mastercard operate. The new Visa partnership comes on the heels of an update from Visa that saw the company harness AI tech to reduce declined transactions—an update that was issued in part to improve the efficacy and security of VisaNet.