Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest and developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the week.
This week, Visa has plans to scale and expand the usage of modern, innovative payment technologies in Argentina with the acquisition of Prisma and Newpay.
Also this week, Mastercard is expanding Google Pay adoption amongst Android users in Saudi Arabia, Wirex is developing a new stablecoin payout function with Visa Direct, and GoCardless is leveraging AI to help merchants’ customers payment preferences.
Visa’s two acquisitions to accelerate payment innovation in Argentina
Visa announced on February 19 it will acquire Argentine fintech Prisma and payment provider Newpay to accelerate the rollout of new payment solutions to customers.
Prisma and Newpay will combine their platforms under Visa to deploy advanced technologies, such as tokenisation, biometric authentication and agentic commerce services, to Argentine customers.
Prisma provides credit, debit and prepaid card issuer processing. Newpay is a multi-network infrastructure provider that operates real-time payments services; the Banelco ATM network and the bill payment platform PagoMisCuentas.
“This acquisition is an important step for Visa in Argentina, strengthening our client partnerships and advancing innovation across the payments ecosystem,” said Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa. “By bringing together Prisma’s and Newpay’s deep local expertise with Visa’s global solutions and technology, we will empower our clients to make payments simpler, faster, and more secure for consumers and businesses.”
The transaction is subject to closing conditions and is expected to close in Visa’s second quarter of 2026.
Mastercard scales Google Pay in Saudi Arabia
Google Pay is now available for Android users in Saudi Arabia following a new partnership with Mastercard to support the country’s digital transformation.
Announced on 18 February, the digital wallet enables cardholders to make contactless payments at physical stores as Saudi Arabian consumers have increasingly adopted digital payment methods.
Android users will be able to make transactions with Google Pay by tapping their phone with the digital wallet at the checkout. Google Pay transactions are protected by tokenisation, which ensures financial information is not shared to merchants via the use of specific tokens to replace card details.
“We are very excited to have collaborated with Google to bring people across Saudi Arabia closer to this vision of a connected world — one in which people are empowered to put their finances in their hands and complete transactions instantly,” said Saud Swar, Country Manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Jordan at Mastercard.
Wirex pushes stablecoins to card
Wirex partnered with Visa Direct on 18 February to launch Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), a service to embed stablecoin payouts for three billion cards in more than 200 countries.
Wirex’s BaaS product seeks to reduce integration complexities for businesses looking to offer stablecoin payments as part of its offerings. This will see Wirex embed its APIs into their infrastructure to enable business customers to receive funds in their preferred stablecoins.
Some of the benefits of the product outlined by Wirex include access to card-first payout options and scalability across Visa Direct’s network of partners.
“Stablecoins are great at moving value globally, but the last mile is still where payout experiences break down — on usability, coverage, and operational complexity,” said Pavel Matveev, Co-Founder of Wirex.
BVNK’s MiCA licence grows its European offering
Stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK secured a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) on 16 February.
The licence will allow BVNK to offer digital asset and payments services, such as Euro payments and access to SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area), to European Economic Area (EEA) countries.
Securing regulatory compliance with MFSA also enables BVNK to continue offering its stablecoin infrastructure services to enable payments for digital asset and traditional finance companies.
“With this licence, BVNK is now unique in offering three critical capabilities in Europe: MiCA crypto services, Euro payments, and direct access to SEPA, all in a single platform,” said Tina Meschino, General Counsel at BVNK
GoCardless leverages AI to support merchant payment needs
GoCardless launched its Model Context Protocol (MCP) on 18 February, a large language AI model designed to assist merchants with payment requirements.
The model inputs natural language to communicate with merchants to gain answers regarding payment information of customers, while also reducing integration times to embed GoCardless’ services.
The bank payment company revealed it has developed use cases for MCP, such as when an e-commerce partner asks for their specific payment requirements to receive implementation guidance, allowing them to integrate GoCardless without the complexities of bank payment protocol.
“We’re meeting merchants where they are and, with AI as a co-pilot, making it even easier for them to move from idea to execution,” said Shaun Puckrin, Chief Product Officer at GoCardless.
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