Thunes, a leader in cross-border payment solutions, has announced an important expansion of its partnership with Visa, aiming to bring new payment capabilities to crucial markets across Asia and Africa.
This strategic collaboration is set to enhance the payment ecosystem by leveraging Thunes’ extensive network, allowing Visa to facilitate payments to over 108 digital wallet types and bank accounts in several countries, including Kenya, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
Moreover, the partnership will incorporate Visa Direct’s push-to-card capability, enabling efficient payouts to Visa cards and accounts in over 190 countries and territories.
Chris Newkirk, Visa’s Global Head of Commercial & Money Movement Solutions, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “At Visa, we’re building the infrastructure to enable our partners to move money from any endpoint, to any endpoint, seamlessly.
“Broadening both our reach and number of endpoints, more than 8.5B today, is crucial to achieving that goal.
“Together with Thunes, we’re broadening the payment ecosystem by connecting to bank accounts, cards, and wallets, ultimately bringing more streamlined payouts capabilities to our joint clients.”
“This collaboration underscores Visa’s ambition to dominate the global money transfer market, projected to be worth $200 trillion.
“The focus on facilitating payments to digital wallets and bank accounts is a strategic move to capture a significant share of the market, which includes a wide variety of transaction types like B2B, B2C, P2P, and government disbursements.
The shift towards digital wallets is gaining momentum, with projections suggesting that over 60% of the global population will use them by 2026.
This trend has encouraged financial institutions, such as CIBC in Canada, to adopt Visa’s cross-border payout capabilities, highlighting the importance of mobile wallet interoperability for enhancing consumer and business payment experiences.
Building on their initial collaboration from October 2022, Thunes and Visa’s partnership has evolved into a comprehensive alliance focused on fostering innovation and increasing accessibility in cross-border payments.
Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, highlighted the significance of this partnership, saying, “Our partnership with Visa is more than just a financial investment.
“We’re engaging with each other’s networks, corridors and payment methods as payments continue to digitize.
“There is a crystal clear, untapped opportunity for B2B cross-border payments at scale, and Thunes is delighted to work with Visa to enable these new payment flows.”
This collaboration marks a significant step forward in the digital payment landscape, aiming to provide more efficient and accessible payment solutions globally.