Wise Partners With Visa For Global Expansion

Wise announced a global collaboration with Visa to facilitate the expansion of its multi-currency debit cards in different regions including Europe, the US, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the UK.

Wise has more than 10 million customers and is moving nearly $6 billion in remittances every month.

Wise launched its multi-currency account that allows retail customers and businesses worldwide to hold and convert 55 currencies at the real exchange rate in 2018. Multi-currency accounts help people and businesses manage their money in different geographies across borders at much lower fees and favorable exchange rates.

Visa Cloud Connect is an innovative way for leading fintech companies around the world to integrate Visa's global processing network, VisaNet, including a unified certification and testing framework, Visa-hosted security services such as transaction encryption and PIN key management, and simplified settlement in local markets.

Wise is the first company to pilot the Visa Cloud Connect platform, which provides a secure cloud-based connection to VisaNet that also eliminates the need for expensive local infrastructure.

Generally, expanding into new markets requires significant investment in local data centers, telecommunications infrastructure, and specialized payment as well as coordination with local partners to adhere to regional standards. With Visa Cloud Connect, Wise can quickly establish a secure connection to VisaNet through its cloud provider, eliminating the need for expensive local connectivity and speeding up Wise's global expansion.

This partnership of Wise with Visa also marks the beginning of seamless global integration. It will accelerate Transfer Wise's plans to roll out the debit cards that accompany its multi-currency account in a host of new markets. The company has launched more than 1 million debit cards since its launch through different global partners.

Visa says the platform will be made available to other companies from August 2021, which will simplify global connectivity and testing, lower IT costs through cloud integration, and speed time to market for launching programs in new geographies.

Kristo Kaarmann, co-founder and CEO of Wise, said: "We've been working to remove borders in the world's financial networks. 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.

"It was an exciting opportunity for us to partner with Wise and show how we're thinking and working differently to help today's fintech innovators scale up quickly. With Visa Cloud Connect, we've created an approach that lets Wise tap into Visa's global infrastructure, one of the most secure, reliable, and resilient systems in the world through a single integration. Through our work with Wise, we've created a blueprint for other fintech companies to quickly and securely connect with Visa's massive scale and reach," Jack Forestell, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Visa, said in a statement.

About Visa

Visa is a leader in digital payments. Their mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable, and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive and scale to reshape the future of commerce.

Their advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company's relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere.