Visa Seals £700M Deal For Acquisition Of Currencycloud

Visa signed a £700 million deal to acquire the B2B cross-border payments firm Currencycloud in an effort to advance money movement around the world. The deal builds on the strategic partnership the two companies already have in place.

“The acquisition of Currencycloud is another example of Visa executing on our ‘network of networks’ strategy to facilitate global money movement,” Colleen Ostrowski, Visa’s global treasurer, said in a press release. 

“Consumers and businesses increasingly expect transparency, speed and simplicity when making or receiving international payments. With our acquisition of Currencycloud, we can support our clients and partners to further reduce the pain points of cross-border payments and develop great user experiences for their customers,” Ostrowski added. 

Currencycloud utilizes numerous APIs to help financial services providers offer currency exchange services. The platform offers real-time notifications on foreign exchange transactions, multi-currency wallets and virtual account management. The company works with close to 500 banking and technology clients across more than 180 countries. 

With Currencycloud, Visa will enhance its current foreign exchange capabilities and better serve FinTechs and banks. Currencycloud also will speed up time-to-market and boost transparency. Currencycloud will maintain its London headquarters as well as its management staff.

“At Currencycloud, we’ve always strived to deliver a better tomorrow for all, from the smallest startup to the global multi-nationals. Reimagining how money flows around the global economy just got more exciting as we join Visa,” said Mike Laven, CEO of Currencycloud. “The combination of Currencycloud’s FinTech expertise and Visa’s network will enable us to deliver greater customer value to the businesses moving money across borders.”

The high demand for cross-border payments is coming from businesses large and small looking to gain a foothold in global trade. A recent study showed that 43 percent of all small businesses dabbled in global trade last year. 

Visa is a digital payments leader and its global processing network, VisaNet, can process some 65,000 transaction messages per second. 

In April, Currencycloud opened its Asia-Pacific (APAC) headquarters in Raffles Quay in Singapore and hired more than 50 people. The hub was intended to support regional expansion.