Global payments giant Visa is expanding the role of smartphones in commerce, unveiling new payment capabilities that allow small businesses to accept and send digital payments using only their mobile devices.
The new features, introduced across Visa Accept, Visa Pay, and Visa Direct, are designed to reduce the barriers that small and micro businesses face when adopting digital payments particularly in emerging markets where access to traditional payment infrastructure remains limited.
Turning Smartphones into Payment Terminals
At the heart of the announcement is Visa Accept, a solution that enables merchants to transform NFC-enabled smartphones into payment terminals without requiring additional hardware.
Using a Visa debit or prepaid account, small business owners can accept contactless card payments or payment links directly from their phones, with funds reaching their accounts in near real time. The solution also retains Visa’s existing security and consumer protection standards.
The move is expected to benefit businesses such as market traders, food vendors, delivery operators, and small retailers that often struggle with the cost of traditional point-of-sale devices.
Faster Payments Beyond Accepting Money
Visa is also extending the capabilities of Visa Direct, allowing businesses to use the same smartphone to make digital payouts.
Business owners can pay employees, contractors, suppliers, issue customer refunds, and even make eligible cross-border transfers directly from their mobile devices through participating banking and fintech platforms.
The company says the update simplifies financial operations by allowing merchants to both receive and send payments from a single device.
Expanding Digital Payment Access
Alongside these services, Visa is expanding Visa Pay, which connects digital wallets and payment applications to Visa’s global payment network. This allows consumers to make payments online, in-store, and across borders using the digital wallets they already rely on, while giving merchants access to more payment options without additional integration work.
Visa believes the initiative addresses a growing need among small businesses for simpler financial tools. According to the company’s Global SMB Macro Trends Report, 99% of surveyed small businesses already use at least one digital financial tool, while 85% say these tools have positively impacted their operations. The report also notes that approximately 530 million of the world’s unbanked adults already own smartphones, highlighting the potential to expand financial inclusion through mobile technology.
Africa Among the Next Growth Markets
Visa Accept is currently available in more than 25 countries and is already operating with banking partners across Asia and Latin America. The company confirmed that new launches are expected shortly with Co-op Bank in Kenya, as well as Access Bank, Omni Bank, and Universal Merchant Bank in Ghana, signaling continued expansion across African markets.
As smartphone adoption continues to rise globally, Visa’s latest rollout reflects a broader shift toward mobile-first commerce, where a single device increasingly serves as a payment terminal, business management tool, and financial hub for millions of small businesses.
