New Landscape, New Opportunities

“The future ain’t what it used to be.” – Yogi Berra

Reading recent reports, you might be forgiven for thinking that the adoption of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) in January is overhauling banking as we know it, and marking a revolutionary development for consumers.

The facts are a little less hyperbolic.

In reality, Europe has already seen a tremendous expansion of companies in the FinTech sector over the last three to five years. The services that challenger banks and others are offering are increasingly being embraced by consumers. And this in turn is upping the ante for established players like high street banks to improve their products and services to remain competitive and relevant for their customers.

So the changes that PSD2 mandates were already happening. The new regulations are simply accelerating the process.

At Visa, we believe these developments create exciting new opportunities for us to work with our partners worldwide to help them deliver differentiated services to their customers. Over the past five years, we have built close and symbiotic relationships with FinTech and leading Digital Economy players globally.

Here in Europe, we’re accelerating that approach with new partnerships with the likes of Klarna and Revolut. And we are building on that momentum with a new Fintech Engagement Initiative to help FinTechs and challenger banks join the Visa family, becoming part of the world’s leading payment network. The Initiative includes a comprehensive “Fintech in a Box” proposition designed from the ground up to make it faster and easier than ever before for such young companies to engage with Visa, enhanced with strong go-to-market support.

We’re excited to introduce this new approach to European FinTech start-ups, kicking off with a Visa Everywhere networking event today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.