Visa (NYSE:V), the ubiquitous credit card and payments rails, and Marqeta, the modern card issuing platform, have announced a new partnership designed to “ease global expansion for multinational card programs.” The project is said to provide a streamlined developer-friendly path for Visa issuers to launch digital-first card programs in 10 Asia Pacific markets – home to around 4.3 billion individuals.
The two companies explain that users may open a laptop to access Marqeta’s existing sand-box and publicly available APIs. Brands that enter into a commercial partnership with Visa can create new issuing programs and can rapidly build and test consumer payment applications in multiple Asia Pacific markets on the Marqeta platform.
Visa and Marqeta’s combined offering is designed to provide a solution for innovators that will help them rapidly build new payment applications:
Matt Dill, Visa’s global head of strategic partnerships and venture. said that global brands and Fintechs interested in expanding into Asia now have a way to quickly test and learn these markets:
“If you’re a startup based in Asia, you have access to world-class developer tools.”
Visa research tracks 90 active mobile wallet programs across the region plus over 150 active or pending digital banking licenses, and several industry-leading alternative credit/installment programs.
The Marqeta platform has been certified Visa Ready in 10 Asia Pacific markets, including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
“Bringing Marqeta and Visa technology together like this in Asia-Pacific is creating an entirely new product proposition, at a scale that hasn’t been done before. The possibilities are massive, helping digital payments innovators scale faster in the world’s most rapidly evolving ecosystem” said Jason Gardner, founder and CEO at Marqeta. “We’re excited to be working with Visa in Asia-Pacific on a forward thinking application of our technology, and see this as a major step in expanding Marqeta’s global footprint as well as helping our existing customer base grow into new regions.”