Visa Inc, global provider of payments,
has today announced that it is
acquiring Fundamo, a major platform
provider of mobile financial services
for mobile network operators and
financial institutions in developing
economies.

It also announced a new, long term commercial agreement with Monitise, a provider of mobile money solutions for financial institutions in more developed geographies.

Visa will pay approximately $110 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close today, and is slightly dilutive to Visa’s earnings per share in its fiscal year 2011 ending September 30, 2011.

The investments will accelerate the execution of Visa’s global strategy announced last month to provide the next generation of payments solutions, enabling consumers to transact wherever and whenever they choose, using a card, a computer or a mobile device with Visa’s reliability, security and global acceptance.

The combination of acquiring Fundamo
and expanding the relationship with
Monitise will enable Visa to deliver
best in class mobile financial
services and payments capabilities to
consumers across the full spectrum of
uses, geographies and mobile
environments, from basic services on
simple handsets to more advanced
services for smart phone owners.

While mobile financial services in developing markets are growing and have become a core service offered by many mobile operators and financial institutions, these services are often limited in scalability and reach and are not interoperable with other regional payment services or global payments networks.

Fundamo’s platform enables the delivery of mobile financial services to unbanked and under-banked consumers around the world, including person-to-person payment, airtime top-up, bill payment and branchless banking services.

The combined Visa Fundamo platform will add enhanced functionality and new services to existing mobile financial services subscribers across Africa, Asia and Latin America for safe, reliable and globally accepted payments solutions.

It will expand the utility of closed-loop systems, enable them to be interoperable, make financial services available to more consumers and offer merchants access to new customers. This has the potential to connect billions of unbanked and under-banked consumers to each other and to the global economy.

Said Joseph W. Saunders, chairman and CEO at Visa Inc: “Combining Visa’s unparalleled network scale, global reach, extensive product suite and established financial institution relationships with Fundamo’s expertise in delivering mobile financial services in developing economies presents us with an important long term opportunity to grow our business and drive financial inclusion in key geographic markets. We are pleased to add Fundamo’s industry leading technology solutions to our portfolio.”

Added Hannes van Rensburg, CEO at Fundamo: “Mobile network operators and financial institutions will now be able to take advantage of Fundamo’s trusted mobile financial services platform backed by Visa’s high standards for security, reliability and scale.”

van Rensburg and the Fundamo management team will continue to manage current and future Fundamo implementations as members of Visa’s mobile product organisation.

Privately held, Cape Town, South Africa-based Fundamo has more than 50 active mobile financial services deployments across more than 40 countries, including 27 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Fundamo’s deployments currently have a base of more than five million registered subscribers and the potential to reach more than 180 million consumers with mobile financial services.