Visa is buying cross-border payments fintech Currencycloud

In its second acquisition of the year, Visa will acquire Currencycloud in a deal valued at $963M.

Why should we care?
Currencycloud is a U.K.-based API provider for cross-border payments, with around 500 business clients in 180 countries, including household-name fintechs like Monzo, Moneze, Starling, Revolut, and Dwolla. Cross-border payments are a hot market right now, with fintechs chipping away at territory that’s long been dominated by legacy banks. Consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) – suggests the value of global cross-border payment flows will hit $156T by 2022. Visa says Currencycloud will enhance its existing foreign exchange capabilities to better serve financial institutions, fintechs and partners while enabling new use cases and payment flows. Currencycloud’s toolset will accelerate time-to-market and improve payment transparency for clients, the payments giant said. Visa has been a Currencycloud shareholder since 2020, and the value of the deal will be reduced by that amount. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions.