Visa Acquires Majority Stake in Prosa to Boost Digital Payments in Mexico

Visa is acquiring a majority interest in Mexican payments processor Prosa to expand digital payment adoption in that country.

The agreement, announced Friday (Dec. 15), will see Prosa continue to operate as an independent company with its own infrastructure, though Visa will expand Prosa’s offerings with new digital solutions and expertise in managing a global network.

“Technology and innovation are the foundation of our business and at the core of what we do. As such, this investment is part of our ‘network of networks’ strategy where we leverage best-in-class technologies from around the world to complement our own,” Eduardo Coello, Regional President for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a news release.

“With the enhanced technology infrastructure provided by Visa’s global payments network, we are setting the groundwork to develop new, innovative ways to pay and be paid for consumers and small businesses alike alongside local issuers and acquirers in Mexico.”

According to the release, Visa expects its investment in Prosa will allow players in the global payment ecosystem to take a more active role in the payment landscape in Mexico.

“Once the transaction closes, Prosa, working together with issuers and other participants in the payments market, will seek to promote such benefits amongst the cardholders in Mexico, including a plan to improve the technology that supports the brand-agnostic services offered by Prosa, as well as Visa brand services such as more tokenized payments,” Visa said.

In addition, the release said, Prosa will also try to push for new services such as real-time payments and technology to provide greater payment efficiency via Visa’s suite of solutions.

As PYMNTS noted earlier this year, consumers in Mexico strongly prefer in-store shopping over buying goods online, with 71% of local shoppers saying they had made their most recent retail purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.

That’s according to the “2023 Global Digital Shopping Index: Mexico Edition,” a PYMNTS and Cybersource collaboration.

“However, this choice does not mean local shoppers eschew digital shopping and payment features,” that report said. “Digital innovation is nonnegotiable, and merchants must provide an assortment of digital features to win customers.”

In Mexico, the average shopper used a range of different digital features for their most recent purchases, such as buy online, pickup in-store options, digital coupons and free shipping.