ZoodPay and Mastercard Launch Virtual BNPL Card

ZoodPay and Mastercard have teamed up to launch a prepaid virtual installment card.

The new card was announced in a joint press release on Monday (Jan. 23), and will allow ZoodPay to scale its offerings and provide BNPL solutions to customers and merchants without being restricted to the ZoodPay network.

According to the release, the card will be available in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) region.

Previously, ZoodPay only offered consumers deferred payments at participating merchants. And while this gave users access to thousands of online and offline sellers, Mastercard’s global merchant network dwarfs ZoodPay’s existing seller base in comparison.

“Consumers and merchants want choice and safety when it comes to payments,” Amnah Ajmal, the executive vice president of market development at Mastercard EEMEA, said. “By partnering with ZoodPay, we are leveraging our technology to enable these payments in a digitally secure way.”

Michael Khoi, CEO of ZoodPay, agreed.

“Our partnership with Mastercard will go a long way in shaping the future of digital payments across emerging markets,” Khoi said. “We are looking forward to the launch of a holistic suite of fintech services for consumers, merchants, micro and small and medium enterprises, helping the unbanked population access the financial ecosystem.”

With BNPL virtual cards, consumers can split the cost of purchases whether or not the business they are buying from has integrated with an existing BNPL platform or offers their own.

This innovation may prove to be a winner as consumers increasingly expect installment payment options for all manner of products and services.

For example, Kayak is hoping that offering installment payments will help it attract travelers as flight prices rise.

The travel website announced Wednesday (Jan. 25) that it was working with the BNPL lender Affirm to offer travelers flexible payment options amid a 40% year-over-year increase in the cost of plane tickets.

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