Lagos – Nigeria– 15 February 2019— Visa Inc. today announced it is expanding its Fintech Fast-Track Program in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region as part of its efforts in developing the next generation of digital payment solutions.

Already rolled out in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, the program provides innovative fintechs with a faster and easier integration process with VisaNet, Visa’s global network, in addition to a suite of tailored digital solutions and growth capabilities.

With the Visa Fast-Track program, fintechs based in CEMEA can now onboard to Visa’s global network in as little as four weeks. The program has been tailored to the needs of fintechs, adapting to their realities and providing them with processes that are faster, which include reducing the number of on boarding conditions.

The program also links fintechs to platforms that are already certified by Visa and connects fintechs to sponsoring banks, providing fintechs with scaling opportunities through Visa’s global network.

Andrew Torre, Regional President, CEMEA, Visa, said, “The payments ecosystem is evolving at an unprecedented pace with some of the most exciting innovations coming from our region. We are actively engaged with passionate, entrepreneurial communities to understand where synergies exist in order to foster and bring new experiences to life in a secure and scalable manner in our pursuit of a digital future. Our aim is to connect new players and ideas with our networkpartners, so that we can deliver intuitive and relevant payment, banking and retail experiences to customers and merchants.”

The Fintech Fast-Track program provides a new commercial framework that includes access to Visa’s payment capabilities, reduced fees and streamlined processes. After successful launches in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific in the second half of 2018, the program is now available to fintechs in CEMEA. Visa is inviting all innovative fintechs in the region to apply to the program by registering online through the program website – www.visa.com/fintechcemea.

The Fast-Track program is one of several Visa initiatives designed to support fintech and startup companies. These include:

• Investment: Visa continuously evaluates and invests in companies that have the potential to advance digital payments for our clients and their customers. Recent fintech investments globally have includedKlarna, Paidy, Marqeta and PayStack in Nigeria.
• Partnership: Many payment platformsand fintechsare already collaborating with Visa globally to create new consumer and merchant experiences,includingYellowPepper, NovoPayment, Stripe, Conductor, Flutterwave andRevolut.
• Engagement:Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, a global innovation program that tasks startups with solving some of the most challenging issues in payments and commerce, has been running in CEMEA since 2017.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Visa will work with Global Technology Partners (GTP), to design and enable turnkey end-to-end packaged solutions jointly for the Visa Fintech Fast Track program. The enterprise solution will include bin sponsorship, issuer processing services, acquirer QR code processing services and program management services.

Rich Bialek, CEO of GTP, said, “GTP is excited to work with Visa to bring new digital products to our banks and cardholders.  Fintech companies in the CEMEA region are developing innovative solutions to meet the needs of this rapidly growing consumer base.  By expanding the fast-track program to CEMEA, Visa and GTP will enable these companies to rapidly deliver new technologies and services to consumers, improving and expanding how commerce works in this dynamic market.”