It appears Visa has re-branded its API portal while also adding new API’s and re-packaging it for consumption by existing issuing banks and partners, likely to help them combat a myriad of Fintech Payment Platforms that are already in the market and growing rapidly.
Visa uses the term “instant” but is a little fuzzy regarding exactly what that term applies to relative to tokenization and accounts so it is unclear if instant provisioning of mobile wallets is included. Regardless of this, banks interested in establishing a payments platform using these APIs will need to consider what regulatory issues need to be addressed related to each potential use case.
For example, a bank that intends to use the API’s to deliver payments to 1099 workers will use the platform to some workers that want the funds deposited to an existing bank account, while others may want the money put into their digital wallet, and still, others may need a bank account. To accomplish this, banks will need to build the recipient screening tools, individual consent tracking support, traditional KYC and other BSA related protections to address regulatory issues specific to the 1099 use case.
“Visa Inc. announced Monday the debut of Visa Next, a platform for issuers and issuer-processors that enables such options as the ability to create new digital card accounts on demand and instantly activate and tokenize digital accounts for e-commerce and mobile-wallet use.
Visa Next offers a series of application programming interfaces to enable these services. It appears the platform is active now, but other features, such as what Visa calls flexible transaction funding and loyalty and engagement, are coming later this year.
‘The platform we are introducing [Monday] will be available to all interested partners and clients via Visa Next,’ Visa said in a statement. ‘The platform houses an initial set of beta APIs, specifications, and development tools for issuers and issuer processors to begin building and beta testing new, digital-first payment products to help meet the future needs of digital-first consumers.’ ”
The full quoted article can be found here
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
