Verto, one of the leading B2B global payments platforms, has announced the launch of its new Verto Card, developed in partnership with Visa. The company describes the product as a new chapter in how African companies conduct international transactions. Accessible to customers worldwide, the card enables businesses to fund, spend, and settle payments across multiple currencies, with zero FX markups on eligible currencies.

The move addresses a long-standing constraint. For decades, African businesses with global operations have been limited by corporate cards tied to a single settlement currency, which imposed hidden FX costs, triggered rejected payments, and drove revenue loss. The Verto Card is designed to tackle these challenges by leveraging Visa's commercial rails to deliver guaranteed payment acceptance rates across 11 currencies, with indirect access to 160 more, helping customers maximise profit margins and overcome local banking frictions.

The corporate cards link directly to Verto wallets and are accepted by 150 million merchants globally. Customers can automatically transact in US Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), Japanese Yen (JPY), Pound Sterling (GBP), Swiss Franc (CHF), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Australian Dollar (AUD), New Zealand Dollar (NZD), Norwegian Krone (NOK), and Swedish Krona (SEK) without needing to manually move funds between wallets or pay a penalty for operating globally.

For African SMEs, importers, SaaS businesses, and digital media buyers, this means transacting like a local in foreign markets without being held back by hidden FX costs or the payment failures associated with prepaid cards. The margin mechanics are central to that pitch: hidden conversion costs on single-currency cards have effectively acted as a tax on cross-border spend, and the zero-markup structure on eligible currencies is designed to take that leak out of the equation.

Ola Oyetayo, CEO and co-founder of Verto, commented on the launch: “African businesses have been underserved by the card products that exist today. They are either locked into a single currency, hit by undisclosed fees, or declined at checkout because their card runs on prepaid rails. This new partnership with Visa reshapes corporate cards for international businesses, moving beyond the limitations of traditional banking and prepaid card structures and expanding what is possible for global business transactions.”

According to the company, security and control are built into the Verto Card. Sensitive card data is retained within Verto's platform, and all transactions are authenticated through 3D Secure verification via one-time passcode or in-app confirmation. These measures ensure secure transaction approval at the point of use, while granular controls by date, time, and merchant category give businesses oversight of how company cards are used.

Visa's involvement provides substantial settlement capacity. The arrangement also reflects a familiar structure in payments: fintech card programs typically reach global acceptance by plugging into an established network's rails rather than building their own. Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial and Money Movement at Visa, said: “The future of business payments lies in solutions that combine global connectivity with local innovation. Through our partnership with Verto, we are expanding access to modern payment capabilities that help businesses move money more efficiently, while enabling fintechs and financial institutions to deliver new value to their customers.”

Looking ahead, Verto is positioning itself as more than a direct-to-consumer payments provider. The company intends to roll out mobile wallet integrations via Google Pay and plans to launch a Cards-as-a-Service offering built on its Atlas infrastructure.

The planned Cards-as-a-Service product reflects an embedded finance strategy aimed at growing demand for white-label banking solutions. By opening its Atlas infrastructure, Verto would enable emerging African startups to issue branded corporate cards to their own user bases without building complex regulatory compliance teams or negotiating directly with global card networks. This effectively lowers the barrier to entry for new fintechs seeking to solve niche vertical problems across the continent. Both initiatives remain at the planning stage, which makes execution the marker to watch: how quickly Google Pay support goes live, and which startups begin issuing cards on Atlas, will indicate how far Verto can extend a single card launch into a broader platform business.