Visa (V: NYSE) flexible credential is going global by transforming the traditional payment card for a digital future.
First in the United States, Visa Flexible Credential will reportedly roll out with the Affirm Card, a debit card that allows eligible consumers to buy now and pay later from the Affirm app.
UAE-based Liv, the digital bank in MENA to debut Visa Flexible Credential, allows travelers access to multiple currency accounts from one card, making cross-border payments simpler.
Built for an “analog world,” one card for one type, debit or credit. The Visa Flexible Credential has reportedly been designed to allow consumers to “pay from different account funding sources with a single card.”
Visa officially confirmed that the Flexible Credential is expanding to the U.S. and will be rolling out with Affirm, and in the United Arab Emirates with Liv, giving millions more people greater choice and control over how they pay.
Affirm is the “first” company to leverage Visa’s credential for its U.S. consumers with the Affirm Card.
The Affirm Card offers consumers a product with the “flexibility to pay now or pay over time.”
Affirm Card users can pay in full anywhere Visa is “accepted or request to pay over time for their purchase in the Affirm app.”
The Affirm Card is currently used by “over 1.4 million consumers in the U.S. and the company looks forward to getting it into the hands of more people.”
Liv, the UAE’s digital bank launched by Emirates NBD, is introducing a new way to flex, letting people access multiple currency accounts from a single card.
Recent Visa data shows that cross-border outbound volumes from the UAE are one of the “fastest growing” among Visa’s largest cross-border countries.
The Flexible Credential will make regular spending in different currencies more transparent for consumers and will enable banks to “accelerate the launch of a multi-currency proposition to their customers.”
The Visa Flexible Credential works by “automatically routing the transaction to the account with the appropriate transaction currency, whether someone is paying online or in-store.”
Using a mobile app, cardholders can move money between local and foreign currency accounts, making sure “they have the funds to make a purchase.”
The offering will be available to new and existing Liv customers and support five of the “popular currencies used, including: U.S. Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.”
Since debuting the Olive card in Japan with Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Limited (SMCC) just over a year ago, there are over “3 million Olive account cardholders taking advantage of the Visa Flexible Credential. Since launch, 70% of Olive account holders are flexing between different account funding sources like debit, credit and prepaid, and credit is predominantly used for their purchases.”
Visa and SMCC have introduced a feature designed to help small businesses access credit and unlock cash flow.
Now, small businesses can switch between business and personal accounts easily “from the same Olive card.”
Visa will test the small business feature in Japan with SMCC and roll it out to other markets.
The Flexible Credential gives consumers control over their finances.
It FIs – whether a bank or fintech – to establish relationships and provide solutions based on the individual needs of customers.
Visa continues to work with its partners to bring payments to consumers around the world.
