Kushki, the payments technology company that connects Latin America through payments, is announcing that it has become the first next-generation merchant acquirer in the region.
This includes primary membership with Visa and Mastercard in Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia through “a partnership, all delivered through a standardized modern proprietary processing platform, making it one of the largest acquirers in the region by coverage.”
Until today, merchants and payment companies in Latin America were “obliged to depend on one or more local acquirer processors per country which usually have operated as monopolies established in the 90’s with little incentive to create broader access into the ecosystem, or innovate their legacy infrastructure.”
This has prompted regulators across the region “to work with companies like Kushki to open the market and broaden the ecosystem.” After 7 years since its founding, the company has been approved by local regulators “in the named countries, becoming the first non-bank entity to be approved to operate as a merchant acquirer.”
Kushki stands out by “offering direct connections to primary payment networks.”
This means merchants and other businesses “that wish to be part of the regional payment ecosystem will be able to directly link to and communicate with top payment networks and systems in Latin America without relying on additional intermediaries or third-party banking institutions.”
The new model will provide benefits “for both merchants and customers paying in both physical and online stores, including faster transactions, increased stability and traceability in transaction processing, and a more tailored service.”
Kushki, through its constant innovation, “continues to provide a modern technology platform with a full understanding of the regional payment regulations that new players in the market require to succeed.”
Aron Schwarzkopf, co-founder and CEO of Kushki, said:
“We started this project back in 2017, the amount of resources and commitment driven into this massive regulatory and infrastructure project is a first for LatAm, we invite businesses to use it widely either directly, or build a payment company on top of us. As the first regional acquirer, we will be able to make payment innovation more accessible and give stores and payment services providers more control over their transactions.”
This is yet another important initiative “from Kushki, which last year launched a new business division, Kushki Mundial, to allow global clients to access Kushki’s payment technologies in the Latin America region from anywhere in the world, connecting with local alternative payment companies and platforms.”
Other significant milestones “include last year’s acquisition of the financial service company, Billpocket, in Mexico.”