The race to lead digital payments has already passed the start line and has two heavyweights touching its heels. The first prize is more than tempting, for the billions of dollars at stake for those who take over the new great revolution: the call was "without cash" or cashless.
In the future, credit cards are expected to cease to be in the pockets of users, who will use their apps to manage all their money: pay in physical stores or e-commerce sites, send funds to people or companies, carry their personal finances everywhere, etc.
Visa and Mastercard know that the action time is now and there are already several indications that the "plastic", per se, will lose prominence. Moreover, the card will become another accessory in a hyperdigitalized world in which people will want to "travel light": the only thing they will carry is their cell phone.
These first signs are seen in broad daylight. One of them is the Apple credit card, the first digital first "Others come from the side of fintech and digital banks, which already offer" virtual "cards. That is, mechanisms to settle a transaction before the physical plastic arrives .
The transfer of value is being reconverted and both Visa and Mastercard struggle to dominate digital payment methods. They know that the business will not be just a plastic. Rather, they should be reconciled in a complete system of fintech solutions.
What's coming
In this framework of accelerated conversion, Visa surprised to disburse US $ 5.3 billion (almost 40% more than YPF is worth) to buy the company Plaid.
This firm connects people's bank data with various financial apps (including funds delivery systems or remittance platforms). In addition, it offers a detailed balance of all your expenses, allowing you to have a complete view of your personal finances and thus be able to better plan the use of your money.
"75% of the world's consumers with Internet access used a fintech application to move funds. As such, it has become increasingly important to facilitate the use of these types of apps," said Al Kelly, Visa CEO.
"Thus, a bank could use the transaction history to offer users the option to view all their spending operations, details of opportunities to save more money through a budget and personalized loyalty rewards," they warn from Visa to iProUP.
With its opponent in the rearview mirror, the company takes speed in the mobile payment race, a market that will amount to $ 4 billion over the next three years. That is, the equivalent to the gross product of Germany or eight times the GDP of Argentina, according to the latest World Bank measurement.
In addition, with the acquisition, Visa manages to obtain a series of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which are connectors that any app developer can use to generate new services within the company's platform.
"They can accelerate their business with easy-to-integrate APIs. For example, if you are creating a custom rewards app, you can use linked credit or debit card transactions to reward consumers based on their expenses, so they save money on everyday purchases", complete from Visa to iProUP.
In fact, Kelly himself remarked: "Plaid is a leader in the world of fast-growing financial technology, with capabilities and top-notch talent. This acquisition, combined with the many efforts we already have underway, will position us better for give value to financial institutions, consumers and developers. "
Mastercard also offers a series of APIs, with which it achieved a privileged place among the unicorns of the region, such as Mercado Pago, Nubank and Ualá. It even has one of blockchain technology, to "offer payment solutions that meet the needs of both financial institutions and their end users."
While the $ 5.3 billion seems a high price for a startup, the context says otherwise. Indeed, in recent months several companies disbursed billions to keep companies dedicated to processing payments in physical stores, another of the focuses of electronic money.
Thus, Fiserv put $ 39,000 million to stay with FirstData, a firm that in Argentina sells payment devices under the POSNet brand and that a little more than a year ago introduced the latest generation, which he named Clover.
FIS, a competitor of Fiserv, also accelerated and stayed with WorldPay, another provider of payment equipment in physical stores, for $ 35,000 million.
In Argentina, this lucrative battle is also being fought: the American Advent fund disbursed US $ 724 million for 51% of Prisma (which was owned by the 14 main Argentine banks), before the government's request for divestment for greater competition in the segment.
Prisma is a rival of FirstData in physical payment methods, with its LaPOS terminals, and in the issuance of Visa and Mastercard cards. It also has the Banelco ATM network and the PagoMisCuentas homebanking platform.
And the banks?
Always, Visa and Mastercard had banks as main allies. Moreover, credit cards were born after the union of several US entities that were looking for more agile means of payment.
For now, the wholesale bank sees in the fintech and in the bigtech a long line to grow at full speed. 2019 was a sample of new alliances between these players.
One of the main movements was that of Apple, which launched its Mastercard credit card along with Goldman Sachs, with a particularity: it does not have a number on the front and is integrated through Apple Pay to pay directly with an iPhone.
Google was not far behind and signed an agreement with Citibank to offer savings boxes to US users. In this context, it would not surprise an eventual integration into your Google Pay wallet and that finally the king of search engines becomes a fintech.
The Citi, meanwhile, is one of those that has been betting on the new digital financial companies: although it has been detaching itself from the retail business in Latin America (Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia, among others), it maintains its wholesale operation by which offers the "banking connection" to giants in the region (Mercado Libre, Ualá, Rappi and Nubank).
Global competition
As if this were not enough, Visa and Mastercard fought a strong battle to stay with Earthport, a British firm that operates as an Automated Clearing Chamber (ACH), offering money transfers between countries (through the virtual currency Ripple, created to reduce shipping costs from blockchain technology).
Visa started with an offer of US $ 250 million, its rival responded with US $ 295 million. The "number one" of the world counterattacked with US $ 320 million and finally kept the signature. But Mastercard did not keep his arms crossed: he added to his ranks the New York Transfast, a competition from Earthport, which has agreements with banks in 125 countries.
In this way, both companies secured a platform that rivals the SWIFT system, which uses banks as intermediaries. The problem is that this "traditional" operation takes up to 5 days and has commissions of around 7% of the amount transferred. Instead, the blockchain solution is instantaneous and very low cost.
Having a direct relationship with all financial institutions in more than 200 countries, Visa and Mastercard also bet on the remittance business, which in 2018 alone concentrated US $ 530,000 million, according to the World Bank.
Not only that: electronic commerce between countries also continues to grow exponentially. "We commissioned a study that indicates that it experiences an extraordinary trajectory of ascent in the region," highlights João Pedro Paro Neto, president of Mastercard of Cono Sur.
Before the advance of the online sale, it ensures that "they use artificial intelligence techniques to connect the information between different systems to analyze the transactions before they occur, so that at the time of the operation the best decisions are made and the detection is increased of fraud. "
In this framework, the card will become a less tangible brand, as is the case with digital wallets such as Mercado Pago and the QR. Contactless technology, which allows it to be replaced directly and works abroad through Google Pay or Apple Pay, will be a catalyst for the trend.
"Based on a study by Vocalink, the Mastercard company that designs, builds and operates payment systems based on bank accounts, more than a third of Argentine youth expects physical stores to stop accepting cash in 10 years completely, "reveals iProUP Paro Neto, from Mastercard.
In the future, the core of both companies will be to take advantage of their main assets: the connection with the banking system and their acceptance at points of sale around the world. To this must be added functionalities to not only be the channel through which the money 4.0 circulates.
Thus, they will avoid falling into the same trap as telecommunications firms: let the data, the oil of the 21st century, flow freely through their infrastructure and let the big business slip through them like water between their fingers.
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2021/10/22669_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/02/41849_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2022/07/29487_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/05/42802_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2019/05/4221_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/02/37904_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2022/08/30206_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/04/38334_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/12/41291_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/11/40935_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2021/07/20423_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/11/41064_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/10/40597_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/01/41545_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/05/38672_landscape.jpg)