YellowPepper, Visa Latin America plan to accelerate your network

Miami, Nov. 6 (EFE).- The acquisition of YellowPepper, the first fintech in Latin America to become part of Visa, will strengthen the multinational technology company’s capacity to integrate multiple payment systems into a “network of networks.”

Ruben Salazar Genovez, Visa’s Senior Vice President for Products and Innovation in Latin America, told Efe that the multinational was definitely committed to signing the agreement and all that was pending were routine procedures.

The YellowPepper team, headed by Serge Elkiner, is to remain and the company is to continue to operate as it has until now.

Visa wants to operate as a “multi-brand” company, providing solutions and services in Latin America and “why not in other parts of the world,” Salazar said.

“The technology is in the cloud and could be taken around the world,” said Salazar, who stressed that YellowPepper will not be exclusive only to Visa.

Founded in 2004, YellowPepper is a pioneer of innovative digital financial solutions in Latin America, it has its own technology, and currently serves 50 clients and five million active users per month.

“Being part of a group like Visa allows us to scale our offer and provide additional services to banks, processors, merchants, etc. Hopefully one day we will do so outside of Latin America as well,” said Elkiner, founder and CEO of YellowPepper.

Speaking about integrating a startup into a multinational, he said that despite its large size Visa “has managed to have more of a startup mentality. Visa has adapted, it has become much more agile to present faster solutions to market.”

“The acquisition of YellowPepper supports Visa’s ‘network of networks’ strategy and the goal of being a single point of connection for the movement of money for everyone, everywhere,” the payment technology company said in a statement.

The acquisition builds on a strategic investment and partnership Visa made in YellowPepper in May 2018.

YellowPepper’s platform offers a wide range of APIs (definitions and protocols used to develop and integrate application software) that allow issuers, processors and governments to quickly and securely access multiple tracks for many payment streams through a single connection, explained Visa.

“This acquisition will accelerate Visa’s ability to create innovative and accessible digital payment solutions that empower consumers and businesses, enabling them to prosper socially and economically,” said Eduardo Coello, Visa’s regional president for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Coello said YellowPepper technology works as a “universal adapter” and is key to enhancing the “network of networks” strategy and making it “a single point of access to initiate any type of transaction and enable the secure movement of money.

YellowPepper will facilitate easier integration to Visa Direct, the company’s real-time payment platform, Visa B2B Connect – Visa’s non-card-based B2B cross-border payment network – and value-added services.

Together, this will expand digital products and services, provide attractive and secure experiences for the entire ecosystem, and grow new transactions and payment volumes.

Earlier this year, Visa and YellowPepper enabled the first real-time platform of its kind in Peru to develop PLIN, a P2P (person-to-person) payment solution with Scotiabank, BBVA and Interbank. EFE

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