Catch up on the essentials
- Under the agreement, IFC will absorb a portion of the credit settlement risk tied to Visa transactions processed by enrolled financial institutions, allowing those institutions to bring more underbanked consumers and small businesses onto Visa's network.
- The facility is expected to support approximately $200 million in risk sharing over five years.
- Implementation milestones in the Visa-IFC facility — including the onboarding of the first wave of enrolled financial institutions and the rollout of Visa's network services across the 14 initial countries — will serve as the next measurable indicators of progress.
Selected from this article · 2026-09-09
Read on for the full pictureA five-year risk-sharing facility with IFC
Visa and the International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, unveiled a risk-sharing initiative designed to widen access to digital financial services in emerging markets. Under the agreement, IFC will absorb a portion of the credit settlement risk tied to Visa transactions processed by enrolled financial institutions, allowing those institutions to bring more underbanked consumers and small businesses onto Visa's network. Visa and IFC described the arrangement as a first-of-its-kind partnership between the two organizations.
Scale, geography, and target institutions
The facility is expected to support approximately $200 million in risk sharing over five years. Initial deployment will concentrate on 14 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean and is sized to reach roughly 50 financial institutions that carry below-investment grade ratings. By absorbing settlement risk, IFC aims to ease one of the structural constraints that has limited those institutions' ability to issue cards and connect customers to formal payment rails.
Leadership framing of the partnership
Visa Chief Risk and Client Services Officer Paul Fabara framed the initiative as an extension of Visa's financial inclusion strategy, saying the partnership is intended to help institutions deliver "secure and reliable payment solutions" to underbanked populations. IFC Vice President of Products & Clients Mohamed Gouled characterized the work as an example of how risk-mitigation tools can unlock lending and payment capacity in markets where conventional credit infrastructure is thin. Both executives tied the effort to broader goals of job creation and small-business growth.
Separate PhonePe collaboration on cardless payments
Separately on the same day, PhonePe and Visa jointly announced three new payment solutions targeted at Indian consumers and merchants: Tap to Pay, Cross Border Scan to Pay, and Smart Accept. The PhonePe rollout is positioned to expand cardless payment options for consumers and to broaden card-acceptance capabilities for micro-merchants, complementing Visa's emerging-market infrastructure work with IFC.
Other developments
A syndicated Business Wire release carried the same Visa-IFC announcement through a wire-services distribution, restating the partnership's $200 million, five-year parameters and the Latin America and Caribbean starting footprint.
What to watch next
Implementation milestones in the Visa-IFC facility — including the onboarding of the first wave of enrolled financial institutions and the rollout of Visa's network services across the 14 initial countries — will serve as the next measurable indicators of progress.
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