Visa has started using VisaNet, its electronic payments network, for processing payments in Argentina.
Payments in Argentina were formerly processed by Prisma, a company that was authorised by Visa to manage the business.
Prisma was an acquirer-processor for domestic businesses. The firm issued Visa cards through financial institutions in Argentina.
Earlier this month, private equity firm Advent International agreed to buy a 51% stake in Prisma from a consortium of 14 Argentinian banks and Visa International.
Visa said that its processing service in Argentina will offer cardholders access to new payment methods such as digital wallets, P2P as well as contactless payments.
Furthermore, the move will result in an increase of over 10 percentage points in Visa’s domestic transaction processing share in Latin America and the Caribbean.
VisaNet has the capacity to manage over 65,000 transaction messages per second, Visa said.
Commenting on the development, Visa regional president for Latin America and the Caribbean Eduardo Coello said: “This is an important milestone for Visa and for Argentina’s electronic payments ecosystem.
“We are committed to working with our partners to accelerate the adoption of electronic payments. This includes expanding acceptance and launching new innovations that can bring more people into the formal and digital economy in Argentina.”
