African businesses with international operations are getting a new way to manage cross-border payments as Verto, a B2B global payments platform, partners with Visa to launch the Verto Card.
The corporate card is designed to help businesses fund, spend and settle transactions across multiple currencies, with zero FX markups on eligible currencies, according to Verto.
The launch targets businesses that frequently make international payments and face challenges such as foreign exchange costs, rejected transactions and limitations from single-currency corporate cards.
One card, multiple currencies
The Verto Card is linked directly to customers’ Verto wallets and can be used across 150 million merchants globally.
Businesses can transact in currencies including the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Norwegian krone and Swedish krona without manually moving funds between different wallets.
Verto says the card provides guaranteed payment acceptance across 11 currencies, with indirect access to 160 additional currencies through Visa’s global payment network.
For African SMEs, importers, SaaS companies and digital media buyers, the offering is designed to make international transactions more similar to operating with local payment infrastructure.
Security and spending controls
The card also comes with features designed to give businesses greater control over company spending.
Sensitive card information is retained within Verto’s platform, while transactions are authenticated through 3D Secure, using either a one-time passcode or in-app confirmation.
Businesses can also apply spending controls based on factors such as date, time and merchant category, allowing companies to monitor and manage how corporate cards are used.
Verto looks beyond corporate cards
Verto says the Visa partnership is part of a broader strategy to build infrastructure for global business payments.
The company plans to introduce mobile wallet integrations, including Google Pay, while also developing a Cards-as-a-Service offering through its Atlas infrastructure.
The model could allow African fintech companies to issue branded corporate cards to their own customers without having to build the entire card infrastructure themselves.
According to Verto CEO and co-founder Ola Oyetayo, the partnership is aimed at addressing limitations that African businesses face with traditional corporate and prepaid cards, particularly around currency restrictions, hidden fees and payment declines.
Visa’s commercial and money movement business is providing the global payment infrastructure behind the new card, combining Visa’s network with Verto’s focus on cross-border business payments.
As African businesses increasingly operate across borders, products that reduce payment friction and simplify access to multiple currencies could become an important part of the continent’s growing digital payments ecosystem.
