By Hamid Ayodeji
Visa, the global card payments and financial technology services company, has unveiled two new components of its Fintech Fast Track programme, the Partner Toolkit and Visa Ready.
The company said the launch is in fulfilment of its mission to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network which enables individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.
It stated that the Partner Toolkit is designed to help financial technology companies accelerate their growth and better serve their customers, while Visa Ready, a certification programme, is for financial technology enablers that makes it easier for fintechs to seamlessly connect with certified partners for digital issuance, including vital services.
Visa explained that the Fast Track Partner Toolkit provides access to Visa’s experts in strategy, marketing, design, risk management, adding that via the toolkit, partners can leverage educational resources like payments boot camps to help upskill a company’s knowledge of the industry, tap into key strategic resources to craft customised benchmarking studies and utilise Visa’s online card design tools to help build and launch a card into market seamlessly.
The company also stated that the Visa Ready certification is designed to help technology companies build and launch payment solutions that meet Visa’s global standards around security and functionality whilst establishing a certified ecosystem of partners who are experts in the capabilities fintechs need to launch and operate products effectively on the Visa network.
The Visa Ready programmerecently added new partners from across the globe ranging from Sao Paulo to Singapore, and new certified processing partners include BPC Radar Payments, Conductor, FIS Global, Global Processing Services, Marqeta, and NovoPayment.
Otto Williams, Visa’s vice president and head of strategic partnerships, fintech and ventures, CEMEA, said it was thrilling to see fintech partners utilize the programmes and network to digitize financial services and improve the lives of the consumers and businesses they touch.
“Through the Fast Track programme, we are providing fintechs with a simple set of tools to bring their products to life. The resources we provide, such as online licensing and card design, have helped make Fast Track the leading programme for fintechs,”Williams added.
