Checkout.com, a leading global digital payments company, today announced a strategic partnership with Visa to enable comprehensive card issuing capabilities across its platform for merchants in the UK and Europe. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney highlighted this collaboration during the company’s Q3 earnings call.

Checkout.com’s Visa travel card issuing capabilities will provide merchants with access to Visa’s global issuing rails, empowering them to seamlessly launch physical and virtual Visa cards through Checkout.com’s platform. Checkout.com’s payment technology, engineered to process tens of billions of transactions annually for the world’s largest e-commerce merchants and Visa’s global payment network are the cornerstone of this offering.

For merchants in the travel sector, this card issuing capability enhances treasury efficiency by eliminating pre-funding requirements, significantly improving cash flow, and enabling superior spend control. Travel businesses often struggle with fragmented and complex payment processes that fail to connect funds collected from their consumers with the capital required to pay their hospitality and travel partners. With Checkout.com offering both acquiring and issuing on the Visa network, along with advanced issuer processing on the same network, merchants can address these critical pain points. Funds acquired by Checkout.com are instantly made available to pay Checkout.com’s partners, removing friction and significantly enhancing capital efficiency.

Antony Cahill, CEO of Visa Europe: "This is a significant partnership that will bring huge benefits to European merchants. At Visa, we recognise the unique challenges faced by the travel industry when it comes to managing payments and cash flow. Our partnership with Checkout.com brings powerful card issuing solutions to the sector, enabling travel businesses to operate with greater efficiency, reduced friction and improved capital management."

Guillaume Pousaz, CEO of Checkout.com: "Our new issuing partnership with Visa presents a major opportunity for merchants. By harnessing the power of Checkout’s acquiring and issuing, we eliminate the need for pre-funding, enable immediate access to funds, and enhance cash flow management. This not only improves operational efficiency but also unlocks growth potential and business performance."