Visa is to acquire Plaid for US$5.3bn, in a move that CEO Al Kelly says “will put us at the epicentre of the fintech world, expanding our total addressable market and accelerating our long-term revenue growth trajectory”.

Plaid “makes it easy for people to securely connect their financial accounts to the apps they use to manage their financial lives,” Visa explains.

“Plaid’s products enable consumers to conveniently share their financial information with thousands of apps and services such as Acorns, Betterment, Chime, Transferwise and Venmo.

“Consumers rely on these apps and services to help plan their spending, increase their savings and monitor their investments. For example, when a user sets up a Venmo account, it is Plaid that enables the user to link their bank account to their Venmo account.

“Connectivity between financial institutions and developers has become increasingly important to facilitate consumers’ ability to use fintech applications. 75% of the world’s internet-enabled consumers used a fintech application to initiate money movement in 2019 versus 18% in 2015.

“Plaid has been a leader in enabling this connectivity at scale. Today, one in four people with a US bank account have used Plaid to connect to more than 2,600 fintech developers across more than 11,000 financial institutions.”

New opportunities

“Visa’s acquisition of Plaid represents both an entry into new businesses and complementary enhancements to Visa’s existing business,” Visa adds.

“First, Plaid’s fintech-centric business opens new market opportunities for Visa both in the US and internationally. Second, the combination of Visa and Plaid provides the opportunity to deliver enhanced payment capabilities and related value-added services to fintech developers.

“Finally, the acquisition will enable Visa to work more closely with fintechs through all stages of their development and drive growth in Visa’s core business.”

“We are extremely excited about our acquisition of Plaid and how it enhances the growth trajectory of our business,” Kelly says.

“Plaid is a leader in the fast-growing fintech world with best-in-class capabilities and talent. The acquisition, combined with our many fintech efforts already underway, will position Visa to deliver even more value for developers, financial institutions and consumers.

“This acquisition is the natural evolution of Visa’s 60-year journey from safely and securely connecting buyers and sellers to connecting consumers with digital financial services.”

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions