Figure Teams With Visa to Improve Banking in a Box Platform

Blockchain lending startup Figure Technologies has teamed with Visa to offer issuing processor services using Figure’s Banking in a Box online banking platform.

According to a Wednesday (Aug. 10) news release, Visa DPS will be a central part of Banking in a Box, which lets Figure Pay customers add eligible deposit accounts, payments and cards to online retail, FinTech or banking offerings.

Banking in a Box is a platform built on the Provenance blockchain, replacing a traditional core banking system and “providing Figure’s customers with zero cost core system economics,” per the release. The platform integrates with Visa, ACH and rewards platforms.

In addition, Banking in a Box provides dynamic authorization routing, which lets its partner’s customers authorize against cash balances, reward balances or invoke buy now, pay later (BNPL) on purchases when approved for credit.

“Having worked in this space for many years, I knew that there was an opportunity to build a streamlined issuing processor product, with better commercial terms,” said Tony Morosini, general manager of Figure Pay. “We have everything a partner needs, including the technology, banking relationship, and operational components to make some noise in this industry.

“Today’s collaboration with Visa will help anchor our Banking in a Box offerings for consumers, small businesses, and community banks.”

PYMNTS explored Figure Pay last year in a conversation with Mike Cagney, Figure’s co-founder and chief executive.

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Figure Pay is a mobile banking solution that includes a Visa debit card, along with embedded BNPL and payday advance features. It also enables Pay members to make business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and customer-to-customer (C2C) transactions while avoiding the interchange system entirely.

“So, for example, one of the banks that’s using Pay banks heavily into the landlord-tenant space,” Cagney said. “Those landlords all get paid in credit card, so they’re paying $300, $400, $500 a year in interchange expense, and so they’re actually [incentivized] to pay the renters a couple hundred dollars a year to use this as a payment solution.”