M-Pesa, the leading mobile money platform, has joined forces with Visa to introduce card payment services. This strategic alliance marks a significant milestone for both companies as they aim to enhance financial inclusivity and convenience for users.
The company has announced its achievement of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, a form of security for firms that accept, transmit, and store credit card information and transactions. This milestone comes as an expansion of its strategic partnership with Visa, a global leader in digital payments.
“Safaricom PLC has achieved PCI DSS compliance, which builds on our strategic partnership with Visa, expanding M-PESA’s payment capabilities to include card issuing and acquisition,” M-PESA Africa said in a statement on Twitter now X.
The partnership is poised to revolutionize the digital payment landscape, providing M-Pesa users with seamless access to card payments through Visa’s extensive network. This initiative is set to empower over 60 million customers, facilitate transactions for 5 million businesses, and offer a platform for 100,000 developers to seamlessly receive mobile payments, conduct online transactions, and accept in-person card payments on a global scale.
This development promises to transform M-PESA, Safaricom’s mobile money service, by introducing card issuing and acquisition capabilities. According to Safaricom, this innovative solution will offer customers a convenient tap-to-go method, facilitating seamless payments for merchants.
The partnership between Safaricom’s M-PESA and Visa, currently offering virtual payment cards.
In June 2022, Safaricom collaborated with Visa to introduce the M-PESA GlobalPay Visa Virtual Card. This initiative empowered more than 30 million M-PESA customers to securely make global purchases. However, it was limited to online transactions, posing inefficiencies for use in the numerous physical retail stores across the country.
It was revealed that customers using the M-PESA GlobalPay Visa Virtual Card for online purchases from global merchant sites will not incur charges. However, a foreign exchange (forex) markup of 3.5% will be applied to the prevailing forex rate of the billing currency at the time of purchase.
FinTechs and financial institutions stand to benefit immensely from this development. They can leverage M-PESA’s card processing capabilities to provide comprehensive mobile and card payment solutions.
Do you have any story or press releases you want to share? Send tips to editor@envestreetfinancial.com
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to ensure you don’t miss out on any