Visa and Fintech District Partner to Expand Italy’s FinTech Ecosystem

Visa and Fintech District have partnered to help expand the FinTech ecosystem in Italy.

Fintech District is a community of national and international stakeholders in the Italian FinTech ecosystem, according to the group’s website.

“The partnership with Fintech District will allow us to further expand our network in Italy, giving us the opportunity to tighten our ties to the Italian FinTech scene and to do our part to contribute to the growth of the sector,” Visa Southern Europe Head of FinTech Eva Ruiz Cendon said in a Monday (Jan. 23) post on LinkedIn.

There are now more than 250 FinTechs who are members of Fintech District, and many of them have revolutionized the payments market with new business models, Fintech District said in a Monday post on LinkedIn.

The group aims to help both Italian startups and new entrants from abroad by encouraging the sharing of best practices, partnerships around technology, access to international capital and communication with relevant parties in other countries, according to its website.

“We are happy and proud to announce the beginning of our collaboration with a leading international partner such as Visa,” the group said in its post. “We are confident that this is only the beginning of an exciting and constructive journey under the sign of Open Innovation.”

As PYMNTS reported in July, many of Italy’s FinTechs are devoted to bringing innovative payment solutions to businesses and consumers.

To encourage FinTech innovation in the country, Italy recently opened a regulatory sandbox, joining the other countries around the world that have done so in order to spur innovation and cultivate a new wave of startups.

For its part, Visa has been working with FinTech startups through initiatives like its Fintech Fast Track Program that is available around the world and provides startups with access to Visa’s partner network and experts who can help them get up and running.

“Visa has long been active in the FinTech landscape with a variety of programs that support their growth and with an ‘open’ approach to our network that allows these innovative players to take advantage of Visa’s global scale and capabilities,” Ruiz Cendon said in her Monday LinkedIn post.

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