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Visa just announced that they are buying CurrencyCloud for GBP700 million. CurrencyCloud specialises in real-time international payments and allows its customers to hold multi-currency digital wallets. If you have made an international payment recently, you will know how slow and expensive it can be. This is an industry ripe for disruption!
The deal is part of Visa's strategy of becoming a network of networks. In layman's terms, Visa wants to do more than just process card payments. They want to become the go-to company for all payment types.
A key part of their strategy is to have trusted standards and guaranteed settlement. As a merchant business selling stuff, you know that if Visa says the transaction has been processed, that the money will be in your account. Guaranteed settlement is a huge competitive advantage because it means you will pay Visa more for that peace of mind.
Earlier this month Byron wrote about Visa partnering with 50 crypto firms and last month I wrote about them buying a fintech firm called Tink. These deals all feed into Visa's network of networks strategy. Interestingly, Visa say that they can reach and process payments for 770 million unbanked people with their current network.
Visa has taken their slogan to heart - "Everywhere you want to be"
