Visa, _able and Onafriq have partnered to support the expansion of Visa Flex Credential across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), in a move aimed at helping financial institutions broaden access to credit through existing debit and prepaid cards.
The collaboration, announced in Nairobi on Thursday, is designed to enable eligible financial institutions to activate credit experiences alongside existing prepaid and debit credentials, potentially giving more consumers access to formal credit through cards they already use.
Visa Flex Credential allows issuers to offer multiple funding sources through a single card credential. Under the partnership, participating financial institutions may be able to extend access to credit through eligible existing debit and prepaid credentials, simplifying the customer experience while supporting broader financial inclusion.
For _able, the Visa Flex Credential expands the capabilities available through its technology platform, complementing existing deployments across banking and mobile money channels.
Jad Abbas, Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of _able, said the partnership would help financial institutions deliver a wider range of credit and savings experiences through a unified technology platform.
“Most consumers across this region already hold a card, and very few can access credit through it. Visa Flex Credential turns that gap into a channel, and _able provides the infrastructure to activate it responsibly and at scale,” Abbas said in a press statement.
The partners said financial inclusion can be strengthened when capital, distribution and operational capabilities are brought together effectively.
The collaboration combines Visa’s global payments network and technology, _able’s credit enablement infrastructure and Onafriq’s payment processing capabilities to support financial institutions across the CEMEA region.
Across many African markets, adoption of debit and prepaid cards has grown, while access to formal credit products remains limited. The partners said Visa Flex Credential could allow issuers to leverage existing customer relationships and payment credentials to provide additional financial services through familiar payment channels.
Under the partnership, Onafriq will support payment processing capabilities for eligible prepaid card implementations and connect participating financial institutions to its pan-African payments infrastructure.
Christian Bwakira, Group Chief Commercial Officer of Onafriq, said the arrangement would help broaden access to Visa Flex Credential-enabled services in markets where participating issuers choose to deploy them.
“Creating access and making borders matter less across Africa through payments is what our network is built for,” Bwakira said.
He added that supporting Visa Flex on prepaid cards, powered by Onafriq’s proprietary companion card platform and integrated with _able, would extend the company’s reach into a new category of credit access.
For banks and other issuers, the partnership is intended to simplify implementation by bringing payment technology, processing capabilities and digital credit enablement infrastructure together.
Through its platform, _able supports financial institutions in areas including portfolio performance, risk management, liquidity optimisation and customer growth initiatives. Onafriq will provide card processing and payments delivery capabilities.
Godfrey Sullivan, Senior Vice President and Head of Products and Solutions, CEMEA, at Visa, said Visa Flex Credential gives financial institutions a new way of delivering flexible payment experiences to customers.
He said greater choice in how consumers pay could deepen customer engagement, unlock new revenue opportunities and improve operational efficiencies.
“Through collaborations with innovative ecosystem partners such as _able and Onafriq, we are helping issuers explore new ways to broaden access to financial services and meet the evolving needs of consumers across the region,” Sullivan said.
Financial institutions across CEMEA can now explore opportunities to deploy Visa Flex Credential across existing card portfolios using _able’s platform, which is designed to operate across multiple processing environments and support implementations as adoption expands in participating markets.
Headquartered in Dubai, _able has an operational hub in Nairobi, a market and innovation hub in Dar es Salaam and a technology and intelligence hub in Pune. The company supports financial services partners across several emerging markets in the region.
The company said it remains focused on bridging the gap between capital providers and distribution channels through technology that enables responsible and scalable financial products.
By Michael Omondi
