Visa expands partnerships worldwide, Swift tests digital currencies

April 3, 2024 10:16 AM

Visa is working with Thunes; LemFi and Western Union to expand its reach; Swift has completed testing of 38 global digital currencies, and more.

Here's what's happening around the world.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Visa adds cross-border capabilities through global deals

San Francisco-based Visa recently announced a series of deals enhancing its international cross-border reach and related services it provides to third parties including Singapore-based international payment technology firm Thunes, London-based remittance firm LemFi and Denver-based Western Union, among others.

Visa and Thunes recently announced that they have deepened a relationship the firms began in 2022, so that Visa will now harness Thunes' network to provide Visa payouts to 108 wallet types worldwide, expanding the card network's reach in Kenya, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan. Visa expects the collaboration will extend Visa Direct to an additional 60 global wallets by the end of 2024, according to a press release.

Thunes, a business-to-business fintech that provides payment infrastructure for banks, digital merchants, platform providers, marketplaces and other businesses, has agreed to use Visa's global payment rails to offer its customers new push-to-card capabilities in 190 countries so that Thunes can issue payouts to any recipient with a primary account number. Previously, Thunes issued payouts to bank accounts and wallet connections, but the expanded collaboration with Visa enables Thunes to reach more types of user accounts.

On another front, Visa Cross-Border Solutions, the card network's cross-border payments arm, last month announced a deal with U.K.-based international remittance firm LemFi to expand an existing partnership. LemFi designated Visa its primary partner in facilitating cross-border transactions, enabling LemFi to extend remittance services to China, India and Pakistan, according to a press release. Through this partnership, Visa gains the capability to issue debit and prepaid cards to more than 250,000 consumers in the U.K. and EMEA regions. The firms plan to collaborate further to reach other countries, the release said.

Those moves followed Visa's March 5 announcement of a seven-year agreement with Western Union that will enable the remittance firm's customers to send funds to recipients' Visa cards and bank accounts in 40 countries. The deal includes card issuance and will harness Visa Direct and risk-management services, according to a press release.

Also, Visa's Currencycloud unit in late March announced an expansion of its relationship with the London-based global fintech Paysend. The firms' goal is to boost Paysend's foreign-exchange and treasury capabilities and streamline cross-border flows across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions, Visa said. Paysend users will gain access to Currencycloud's wallets that hold up to 34 currencies within the same app.

Swift finishes testing bank-initiated digital currencies outside the U.S.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or Swift, has completed a successful demonstration of interoperability for central bank digital currencies for cross-border transactions, digital trade and other types of tokenized payments, according to a recent press release. As part of its second phase of CBDC sandbox testing, Brussels, Belgium-based Swift conducted collaborative experiments with 38 global financial institutions to prove that CBDCs and other digital assets may be integrated into common business practices, potentially interlinking existing payment networks for automated trade flows. The tests included more than 750 transactions. The U.S. Federal Reserve did not participate; as many countries advance their development of CBDCs, U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently reiterated that the U.S. is not close to recommending development of CBDC.

Viamericas launches bill-payment service for Guatemalans abroad

Miami-based remittance firm Viamericas has launched an international bill-payment service enabling Guatemalans living in the U.S. to make same-day payments for household bills in their home country including utilities, telephone and cable service, according to a press release. The service includes a loyalty program to earn discounts and other benefits. The service, available at more than 6,000 retail outlets supporting Viamericas in all U.S. states, costs $3 for each standard bill payment. Viamericas plans to expand the service to other countries later this year, the release said.

Ant Group’s digital wallet to link with Malaysian airline

Ant International, a Singapore-based digital payment branch of China's Ant Group, has formed a strategic partnership to streamline online and digital payments capabilities for Malaysia-based Capital A Berhad, operator of AirAsia and related regional airlines, according to a press release. The collaboration aims to use Ant's Alipay digital wallet technology to expand the scope of the airline operator's cross-border payment options, payment orchestration, marketing and promotions, including through AirAsia's MOVE mobile app and BigPay, the airline's fintech venture. The firms plan to add Ant's AliPay+ digital wallet as a payment option within MOVE while enabling online, in-person and in-flight checkout for AirAsia customers.

Amazon pulls plug on cashierless system in U.S. grocery stores

Amazon is removing its cashierless Just Walk Out technology from grocery stores, a retreat from an ambitious system designed to let shoppers skip the line.

Amazon will remove the system as it remodels existing Fresh grocery stores and won't feature it in new locations that will start opening later this year, an Amazon spokesperson said.

Tony Hoggett, Amazon's senior vice president of grocery stores, joined the company in 2022 and launched a far-reaching revamp of the company's grocery business, which has struggled to build market share in an industry dominated by the likes of Walmart and Kroger.

The Information reported the scrapping of Just Walk Out technology earlier. The system used ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf sensors, backed by algorithms, to determine what a shopper took from a store. Customers were charged automatically upon exiting.

Amazon Go stores will still use Just Walk Out technology, and the company will continue to license it to other retailers. Smaller stores in the UK also will keep using the system. —Matt Day, Bloomberg News