In late 2025 alone, Visa handled about $4.5 trillion in payment volume while Mastercard processed around $2.8 trillion in the final quarter, showing the scale at which both systems operate behind everyday purchases.

Most people do not think about it, and I don’t either when I tap a card or pay online. The transaction is easy and instant, but there is a whole process behind that simplicity, a system controlled by two companies that do not compete in the way consumers imagine.

We are not focusing on credit cards this time,  the story is about infrastructure.

Not Banks, Not Lenders: What They Actually Are

Visa and Mastercard are usually misunderstood as banks but they are not.

They do not issue cards, set interest rates, or decide your rewards. Instead, they operate as payment networks, connecting banks, merchants, and payment processors so money can move securely between them.

When a card is used, the network routes the transaction. Approval, rejection, fraud checks, and settlement all pass through systems built by these companies, but the money itself is held and issued by banks.

The separation explains why two Visa cards can be completely different depending on the bank behind them.

How a Single Card Payment Moves

A simple purchase hides a long chain.

A customer pays at a shop or online, the request goes through a payment processor, and then passes through either Visa or Mastercard’s network. The issuing bank checks the account, approves or rejects the transaction, and the confirmation travels back through the same route.

Only then does money begin moving between banks.

The entire process happens in seconds, but it depends on a global system built over decades.

A Duopoly Built on Scale, Not Visibility

Visa and Mastercard are at the top in their space because of one thing, and that’s scale.

Together, they operate across hundreds of countries and are accepted at tens of millions of merchant locations worldwide. Their reach creates a network effect, the more banks and merchants join, the harder it becomes for alternatives to survive.

Visa currently processes more total transactions, while Mastercard has shown slightly faster growth in some recent periods. But the gap is not about consumer experience but infrastructure size and adoption speed.

This is why analysts usually describe them as a duopoly.

Differences That Are Not Obvious

To most users, Visa and Mastercard are identical and that is largely true at checkout. But there are differences in other aspects.

Visa has historically held a slightly higher global transaction share, while Mastercard has been more aggressive in real-time payments and international expansion partnerships.

Both companies earn money mainly through transaction processing fees charged to banks and financial institutions, not directly from consumers.

Both also compete in security technology, including fraud detection, tokenisation, and identity verification systems. The focus is not on consumer branding but on infrastructure upgrades.

Even their acceptance levels are now extremely close, with both operating in well over 200 countries and territories.

The Competition Happens Behind Banks

What is usually missed is where the competition actually happens.

Visa and Mastercard do not compete in front of consumers. They compete for:

• Bank partnerships
• Merchant adoption
• Processing contracts
• Security infrastructure deals
• Cross-border transaction flows

These are invisible to users but essential to revenue growth.

Recent financial data shows both companies still rely heavily on high digital payments and cross-border spending, which is a key driver of fees.

Fees, Power and the Debate Around Cost

Every time a card is used, merchants pay a fee which is split across processors, banks, and networks.

These charges are usually between 2% and 2.5% per transaction in some markets, although exact levels vary. Recent negotiations and legal cases have pushed both companies toward possible adjustments in fee structures in certain regions.

This has created stress between merchants and networks, but the system is largely unchanged because of how deeply embedded it is in global commerce.

A System Still Expanding Despite Challenges

Despite competition from mobile wallets, fintech apps, and emerging payment rails, Visa and Mastercard are growing and expanding.

Recent earnings trends show double-digit revenue growth supported by high transaction volumes and digital spending. Cross-border payments, especially travel and e-commerce, are a strong driver for both networks.

At the same time, regulators in different regions have increased focus on fees and market authority, showing that the system is powerful but not unchecked.

Why the Difference Seems Invisible

For most people, there is no winner between Visa and Mastercard because there is no obvious difference in daily use, and that is the point.

The competition is not about the card in your hand but which company covers the system behind global payments more efficiently, more widely, and more securely.

You do not choose the network most of the time, your bank does. And that is why the difference between Visa and Mastercard usually seems almost invisible.

The announcements cover hardware, software, cloud services, and partnerships with companies like Lyft, Sony, and Visa.

The focus this year is on giving businesses better management over AI systems. AWS CEO Matt Garman spoke about how AI agents can drive tangible business results.

“AI assistants are starting to give way to AI agents that can perform tasks and automate on your behalf,” he said during the keynote. “This is where we’re starting to see material business returns from your AI investments.”

Powerful Chips and UltraServers

AWS introduced the Trainium3 chip and UltraServer systems, promising up to four times faster AI training and inference while using 40% less energy.

Trainium4, already in development, will be compatible with Nvidia’s chips, signalling AWS’s intent to bridge proprietary and third-party hardware ecosystems.

AI Agents Evolving

AWS also expanded its AgentCore platform. Features like Policy allow developers to set clear boundaries for agents, while new memory and evaluation capabilities let AI agents remember interactions and be tested against 13 prebuilt evaluation systems.

Among the new “Frontier agents,” the Kiro autonomous agent stands out, writing code and learning team workflows to operate independently for hours or even days. Additional agents focus on security and DevOps tasks, helping teams prevent errors and manage operations more efficiently.

Nova AI and Customisation

Amazon’s Nova family of AI models grows with four new releases, including three text-generation models and a multimodal model that handles text and images. Nova Forge introduces “open training,” enabling organisations to fine-tune pre-trained models with proprietary data.

Companies like Reddit and Hertz are already leveraging Nova to replace multiple specialised models or accelerate development velocity.

Real-World Applications

AWS customers demonstrated practical impacts. Lyft’s AI agent, built with Anthropic’s Claude model via Amazon Bedrock, now resolves driver and rider queries 87% faster and has increased driver adoption by 70%.

Christina Minardi from Amazon noted sustainability applications: “By working with Trane Technologies and the BrainBox AI team, we’re turning our buildings into intelligent systems that learn and adapt, helping us meet both our sustainability and performance goals in real time.”

Other partners showcased broad enterprise use cases. Sony is deploying AWS-powered AI platforms internally and through the Sony Engagement Platform, processing 760 terabytes of data daily to enhance fan experiences.

Nissan’s cloud-based software platform for vehicles has reduced testing time by 75%, while Visa and AWS are enabling AI agents to conduct secure, autonomous transactions.

Data Control and Sovereignty

AWS also introduced AI Factories, which allow companies and governments to run AWS AI in their own data centres. Combining Nvidia GPUs with Trainium3 chips, the system meets regulatory and data sovereignty requirements without sacrificing performance.

Cloud Services and Storage Upgrades

Several AWS services received significant updates. Amazon S3 now supports objects up to 50TB and scales to two billion vectors per index for AI search, while S3 Tables introduces automatic replication and cost-optimising Intelligent-Tiering.

CloudWatch unifies operational, security, and compliance logs for easier insights, and EMR Serverless eliminates local storage provisioning for Apache Spark jobs, cutting costs by up to 20%.

Enhanced Support and Security

AWS also announced upgraded support plans, combining faster AI-assisted responses with expert guidance. Amazon GuardDuty Extended Threat Detection now covers EC2 and ECS environments, while Security Hub offers near real-time risk analytics across multiple AWS services.

Expanding Partnerships

Adobe, Deepgram, BlackRock, and WRITER highlighted collaborative initiatives. Adobe is using AWS for AI-powered creative tools, Deepgram for enterprise voice solutions, BlackRock for Aladdin investment technology, and WRITER for securely scaling enterprise AI agents.

The announcements underline AWS’s strategy to embed AI across infrastructure, enterprise software, and real-world operations.

Starting from autonomous coding agents to sustainability-driven building systems, the AWS re:Invent 2025 conference revealed how businesses are starting to rely on AI agents not just as tools, but as autonomous collaborators.

The investment reflects Moniepoint’s rapid growth, sustained profitability and proven impact, and will fuel its ongoing mission to power the financial dreams of millions of businesses and their customers across Africa and the global diaspora.

The round was led by Development Partners International’s African Development (ADP) III fund, with the final close anchored by LeapFrog Investments, a leading impact investor.

Other investors in the round include Lightrock, Alder Tree Investments, Google’s Africa Investment Fund, Visa, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Proparco, Swedfund, and Verod Capital Management.

Moniepoint is one of the few fintechs globally, and the first in Africa, to achieve profitability at unicorn scale while driving financial inclusion.

As Nigeria’s leading payments and digital banking platform, its customer base exceeds 10 million active businesses and personal banking customers, and it processes over US$250 billion in digital payments transaction value annually.

The proceeds of the round will be used to power the Company’s next phase of growth, enhancing its capacity to help African businesses and individuals realise their financial dreams and accelerating Moniepoint’s continued expansion across the continent and into international markets.

The closure of the funding round marks a highly successful period featuring notable product launches, such as MonieWorld, a remittance solution targeting the African diaspora in the United Kingdom and the launch of its integrated payment and bookkeeping solution designed to simplify business operations for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Moniepoint was ranked as one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies for the third consecutive year by the Financial Times and featured among CNBC’s list of the world’s top fintech companies in 2025.

Moniepoint Inc. (formerly TeamApt Inc.) was founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike. Today, it is Nigeria’s leading business banking provider and a trusted financial platform for the country’s MSMEs.

Originally rooted in building payment infrastructure and solutions for banks, Moniepoint has considerably expanded its offerings to include digital payments, business and personal banking, credit, cross-border payments, and business management tools.

Tosin Eniolorunda, Founder and Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc., said:

“This is a proud day for Moniepoint, and I extend my sincere gratitude to the entire team for their tireless work to make this possible. We founded the Company out of a genuine passion to widen financial inclusion and to help African entrepreneurs realise their potential. That same passion drives the work we do today, and it is heartening to know it is shared by leading, global institutions.

“We will not rest on our laurels. The proceeds from our landmark Series C will be deployed judiciously to generate even more momentum as we enter the next chapter of Moniepoint’s story, with financial happiness for Africans everywhere remaining our ultimate goal.”

Adefolarin Ogunsanya, Partner at Development Partners International, commented:

“Since leading the first close of this landmark Series C, we have seen Moniepoint reach new heights – delivering innovation alongside sustained growth and profitability. DPI is proud to have anchored this round, reaffirming our conviction and support for the business and its leadership team. We continue to be impressed by Moniepoint’s powerful combination of commercial success and its impact on financial inclusion, and look forward to our continued partnership with Tosin and his team as they scale further in Nigeria, across Africa and beyond.”

Karima Ola, Partner at LeapFrog Investments, added:

“MSMEs are the heartbeat of African economies – creating the majority of jobs and driving innovation. However, the vast majority have no access to digital banking and formal credit. Moniepoint has become an indispensable partner to MSMEs by empowering them with the digital tools and trust they need to transact, grow, and employ others at scale.

“At LeapFrog, our vision is to support the ongoing evolution of Africa’s financial infrastructure – where global digital payment ecosystems are well connected; cross-border payments are smooth, safe and affordable; and SMEs have seamless access to credit, digital payments, and the wider suite of financial tools they need to thrive. Our investment in Moniepoint epitomises that vision.”

Farid Fezoua, Global Director for Disruptive Technologies, Services, and Funds at IFC, said:

“IFC has extensive experience in investing in technology-driven startups that help businesses process and accept payments in emerging markets. We look forward to supporting Moniepoint’s effort to increase the adoption of digital payments among MSME retailers in Nigeria, a segment underserved by banks and other traditional financial institutions. Moniepoint provides competitively priced point-of-service devices, as well as a modern platform enabling MSMEs to access loans, bookkeeping, and several other offerings. This allows merchants to grow their business and create more jobs in a sector considered the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, where cash is still predominant.”

This latest capital raise sees Moniepoint expand its roster of blue-chip investors which already comprises institutions including QED Investors, Novastar Ventures, Lightrock, FMO, British International Investment, Global Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and New Voices Fund.

Financial Technology Partners acted as exclusive financial and strategic advisor to Moniepoint in this transaction.

It will be recalled that the Series C round’s first close announcement took place in October 2024.

Founded in 1997 by a consortium of leading Nigerian banks, Unified Payments has been a trailblazer in e-payment services.

As the only non-bank entity in Nigeria licensed as a Principal Member or licensed Acquirer of all major payment schemes, including American Express, Mastercard, Visa, UnionPay and Payattitude, the company has delivered secure, scalable and innovative payment solutions that empower businesses and individuals following its transformation to a scheme-neutral and option-neutral service provider.

Speaking on the significant milestone, the Managing Director/CEO of UP group of companies, Dr. Agada Apochi expressed profound appreciation to the UP team, Shareholders and customers for their unwavering support and trust enabling the growth of the company over the years.

Apochi reaffirmed the company’s commitment to continually leverage our shared technology infrastructure towards delivering seamless, adaptable, secure and intelligent payment solutions that fuel economic growth and inclusion.

“At Unified Payments, we are immensely proud of the milestones we have achieved over these 28 years. What began as a bold initiative to create innovative financial solutions in Nigeria has evolved into a powerhouse that is unifying businesses, connecting people and driving sustainable progress. Our success is a testament to the dedication of our team, the trust of our shareholders and customers towards our relentless pursuit of excellence. As we look to the future, we remain committed to pushing boundaries, fostering inclusion and delivering solutions that make a real difference in the lives of People and businesses. Here’s to many more years of unifying excellence,” he said.

Over the years, Unified Payments has pioneered numerous industry-first innovations, including but not limited to the issuance and acceptance of EMV Chip+PIN cards in Nigeria, significantly reducing card fraud in the country, its recent partnership with Pan-African Payment & Settlement System (PAPSS) to facilitate cross-border transactions among others.

The company also enabled Nigerian Naira account holders to use their cards globally for the first time, enabled acceptance of foreign cards for purchase at merchant locations and cash withdrawals; and simplified payments using phone numbers for increased accessibility.

UP also developed robust offerings spanning acquiring, processing, switching, payment terminal services aggregation, interbank transfers, agency banking, online payment gateways, value-added services, thereby empowering banks, businesses and consumers to transact effortlessly.

Through its commitment to cross-enterprise alliances, UP has enabled many other Fintech companies and businesses in Nigeria who leverage the licenses and capabilities of UP.

The renewed vision of UP is – To be the trusted enabler of businesses and lifestyle while the mission is – Building shared technology infrastructure and partnerships.

In his new role, the established Visa leader will be responsible for leading operations across more than 86 innovative and fast-growing markets. Visa’s CEMEA operations today serve more than 1,800 clients from 23 local offices across the region.

Mr. Muhmood brings more than 30 years of banking and payments experience to the role. He most recently served as head of Value-Added Services for Visa’s Europe region, based in London, and originally joined Visa in 2019 as Group Country Manager for Southeast Asia, based in Singapore.

Prior to joining Visa, Mr. Muhmood held senior leadership positions with Ahli United Bank, ANZ and HSBC.

Mr. Muhmood will be based in Dubai, and will take on the role effective immediately, reporting to Oliver Jenkyn, Group President, Global Markets, Visa.

Mr. Muhmood succeeds Andrew Torre, who was recently appointed as President of Visa’s Value-Added Services business, which has rapidly grown into a $9B global business and has delivered annualized revenue growth of 20% since 2021.

“We are delighted to appoint a leader with Tareq’s deep experience at the intersection of financial services, technology and high growth markets to lead Visa’s fastest growing region and continue our journey to advance the future of digital payments across CEMEA,” said Mr. Jenkyn. “During the course of his career, Tareq has worked in 13 countries, and brings unique global perspective, world-class leadership and a proven track record partnering with Visa’s largest clients across diverse, complex and rapidly accelerating markets.”

“It is a great honour to lead the CEMEA region, and to continue the tremendous progress that has been made in transforming the future of payments, commerce and money movement across so many dynamic markets,” said Mr. Tareq Muhmood. “Having spent more than a third of my career in the region, I am excited by the incredible opportunity to further expand digital payments amongst more consumers, merchants and economies. I look forward to working closely with our outstanding team to enable shared growth with clients and partners across the region.”

The company will now be able to also work together with co-brand partners, whether a bank, retailer, or fintech, and provide them with a financial infrastructure enabling them to easily launch payment products across Latin America.  

Unlimit’s co-brand solution will not only allow businesses to significantly reduce the time it takes to launch a white-label financial product, in comparison to existing market solutions, but will also simplify the integration process, thanks to its API-driven technology.

“Unlimit’s goal has always been to support businesses in their expansion and growth strategies, no matter the size, and to eliminate existing borders, stopping them from doing so. 

“This is an important next step towards that goal and our ongoing efforts to drive financial inclusion in the Latam region, as well as diversifying Mexico’s financial landscape with global innovative solutions”, said Ignacio Morales, country director of Unlimit Mexico.

Unlimit is a globally recognised leader in financial technology for payment processing, card issuance, and account management and has been active in Mexico since 2019. 

For the past 6 years, it has helped multiple local merchants successfully increase approval rates and establish efficient payment processing operations.

Now, it is ready to enhance its local offering even further by changing the way card issuance is perceived in the region.

Through this partnership, Visa and Yellow Card will collaborate to explore stablecoin use cases and opportunities to help streamline treasury operations, enhance liquidity management, and enable faster, more cost-effective money movement across borders.

“Traditional payment companies continue to question not ‘if’ they need a stablecoin strategy, but how quickly they can deploy one,” said Chris Maurice, co-founder and CEO of Yellow Card. “We are thrilled to partner with Visa to help realize the potential of stablecoins technology in emerging economies.”

Godfrey Sullivan, senior vice president and head of Product and Solution for CEMEA, Visa, said,

“We’re excited to team up with Yellow Card to enable faster and more accessible digital payments. We believe that every institution that moves money will need a stablecoin strategy. As more players in the payments ecosystem explore this powerful new technology, Visa stands ready to help our partners navigate the transformation, bringing the scale, trust and innovation needed to help build the next generation of global payments.”

Yellow Card operates in 20+ African countries and provides access to secure, compliant, and accessible stablecoin products for consumers, businesses, and developers.

This partnership further cements Yellow Card’s role as a critical financial gateway and infrastructure provider in emerging markets.

According to the announcement available to Techeconomy, Aminata, based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire,  will lead Visa’s newly established sub-regional team, covering 23 markets across four key offices in Abidjan, Accra, Kinshasa, and Lagos.

Kane is a recognized leader in digital financial services and telecommunications, bringing over a decade of executive experience from Orange’s operations in the Middle East and Africa.

Most recently, she served as Regional Chief Executive Officer for Orange Money Group, where she oversaw Orange Money and Orange Bank Africa services across 17 countries.

A committed advocate for inclusive development, Kane has championed initiatives that empower youth and women through technology, establishing the Orange Foundation and the Orange Digital Center in Sierra Leone—both dedicated to fostering leadership and equipping individuals with essential digital skills for the future

“Aminata’s leadership and deep expertise in digital financial services will be instrumental in driving Visa’s mission to expand financial inclusion across Western and Central Africa. We are excited to have her lead this dynamic region and believe that her strategic vision will help enhance our efforts to create more accessible and innovative digital payment ecosystems,” said Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa

Aminata Kane began her professional journey at Goldman Sachs, then joined McKinsey & Company as a consultant in Paris, where she developed deep expertise in financial strategy, transformation, and market expansion.

With a strong academic foundation from HEC Paris and the MIT Sloan School of Management, she is recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and has more recently been named as one of the Top 100 Women CEOs in Africa.

“I am deeply honoured to join Visa at such a pivotal moment for Africa’s digital transformation”, said Aminata Kane. “Building on years of work advancing digital and financial inclusion across Africa and the Middle East, this a unique opportunity to help shape a more inclusive, innovative ecosystem that reflects the talent, ambition, and potential of our region. I look forward to collaborating closely with our teams, partners, and public sector stakeholders to expand access, empower businesses, and deliver trusted, impactful payment solutions that drive sustainable growth and opportunity for all”.

To celebrate the milestone and build momentum toward the largest FIFA World Cup in history, Visa will unlock exclusive fan experiences for cardholders — including meet-and-greet opportunities with Lamine Yamal in Barcelona and signed merchandise leading into FIFA World Cup 26.

“Lamine represents the future of football — bold, exciting, and full of potential,” said Tarek Abdalla, chief marketing officer, Visa CEMEA. “At Visa, we’re constantly looking for new ways to connect with fans through the power of sport. As Visa’s FIFA World Cup ambassador, Lamine embodies the spirit and passion of the beautiful game, inspiring millions of fans worldwide.”

Yamal is captivating the football world with record-setting performances, and his skill, speed and vision on the field have made him a breakout global star — and a symbol of where the game is heading.

Commenting on the partnership, Lamine Yamal stated,

“Football is more than a game, it’s joy and a way to connect with people around the world. I’m proud to partner with Visa to share that passion and inspire people through sport.”

As an Official Payment Technology Partner of FIFA, Visa has used the power of football to drive inclusion and access around the world — from grassroots programs to global stages.

Through innovative fan experiences, athlete partnerships and exclusive cardholder benefits, Visa continues to redefine what’s possible for fans, players, and the future of the game.

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating more than 215 billion payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories each year.

The firm is on a mission to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.

Via believes that economies that include everyone everywhere uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement.

The round was led by Activant Capital, with participation from Fuel Ventures, Triton Capital, Fabric Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Digital Space Ventures and Preface Ventures. Strategic shareholders include current and former executives from Stripe, Worldpay, Visa, Circle, PayPal, and Google.

Founded by payments industry veterans Tom Greenwood (Volt, IFX) and Eric Queathem (Worldpay, McKinsey & Company), Velocity delivers the financial upgrade global businesses have been waiting for. 

Traditional financial systems were not designed for a multi-asset economy, limiting the seamless integration of digital assets into existing infrastructure. Velocity bridges this gap by providing a platform where businesses can manage fiat and stablecoin transactions in one place, eliminating the need for parallel systems or complex integrations.

Velocity’s Stablecoin Payment Account provides enterprises with a frictionless way to move and manage capital across banks, blockchains, and borders.

Designed for seamless integration, the platform combines the speed and programmability of stablecoins, with the rigour and reliability of traditional finance —- solving real-world challenges in cross-border settlement, liquidity management, and treasury operations.

“This isn’t about replacing the old with the new; it’s about intelligently integrating both,” said Tom Greenwood, co-founder and CEO. “We’re not chasing crypto hype — we’re leveraging stablecoins to remove friction, accelerate settlement, and drive improved performance in real-world financial operations.”

Greenwood previously founded Volt, a leading fintech specialising in real-time payments, and IFX, a prominent foreign exchange and cross-border payments company. Queathem spent nearly a decade at Worldpay, where he led global strategy and growth across both traditional and crypto markets. Together, they bring deep expertise in scaling regulated financial systems globally.

“We’ve experienced first-hand the financial complexity of operating a global business — the fragmentation of providers, the lack of transparency, and the workarounds,” said Eric Queathem, co-founder and president. 

“Velocity is built to eliminate that friction with infrastructure that scales, adapts, and solves the real-world problems large enterprises face every day when moving and managing money around the world.”

Velocity’s funding comes as global momentum builds around regulated stablecoins and digital money. Across major financial markets, including the US, UK, EU, and Singapore, emerging regulatory frameworks are accelerating enterprise adoption and driving demand for infrastructure that connects today’s financial system with tomorrow’s digital economy. 

“Tom and Eric bring the rare technical depth and regulatory fluency needed to build and scale a product like this. We’ve shared this vision for years, and now is the time to bring it to life,” said Andrew Steele, Partner at Activant Capital. 

“Velocity isn’t just solving cross-border payments, it’s rethinking how enterprises manage FX, liquidity, and treasury through stablecoin infrastructure,”

“Velocity is building foundational infrastructure for the future of global finance,” said Shiv Patel, partner at Fuel Ventures. “We backed Tom at Volt, and we’re proud to back him again. Tom and Eric bring unique experience in navigating regulation, scaling enterprise platforms, and solving the real-world operational challenges that define success.”

“We’re proud to support Velocity as a technology partner,” said Ran Goldi, SVP Payments and Network at Fireblocks. “Fireblocks’ recent report on stablecoin trends showed that 90% of market participants are moving forward with stablecoin adoption at pace.

“As demand for digital payment infrastructure accelerates, the market needs trusted, enterprise-ready solutions. Velocity is bringing a thoughtful approach to shaping this next chapter of digital payments.”