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Visa And Whish Money Partner To Expand Digital Payments In Lebanon
The first-of-its-kind partnership enables Whish Money to integrate Visa’s payment tech, advancing secure, scalable fintech solutions for over a million users.
Visa has entered a strategic partnership with Lebanon-based fintech Whish Money to enhance digital payment capabilities across Lebanon and international markets. The collaboration, announced at Whish Money’s newly opened campus in Beirut, positions the fintech company to integrate Visa’s advanced technologies into its platform — bringing improved speed, security, and global reach to its more than 1 million users.
The partnership marks a regional milestone: it is the first time Visa has partnered with an e-wallet provider in the Levant. Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for North Africa, Levant, and Pakistan, described the alliance as one rooted in shared values of trust and innovation. She emphasized that Visa’s vast global network — spanning over 200 countries — will help accelerate Whish Money’s international expansion.
Whish Money, which has already established a global footprint, sees this agreement as a major step in its evolution. CEO and co-founder Toufic Koussa called the deal a “significant milestone,” citing the fintech’s strong compliance and security infrastructure as key enablers. He also noted Visa’s rigorous due diligence process as a sign of confidence in Whish Money’s operational maturity.
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By embedding Visa’s digital payments infrastructure, the partnership will allow Whish Money to offer more seamless, efficient, and secure services — bolstering its standing in both domestic and global markets. The two companies plan to jointly raise the bar for fintech innovation, particularly in regions where reliable digital financial services remain underdeveloped.
As Lebanon’s fintech ecosystem gains momentum, collaborations like this signal a broader trend: global payments leaders are increasingly looking to regional innovators to co-create the next generation of digital financial solutions.
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Lebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform
Finance and technology ministers say a comparative study and roadmap will follow before any decision on adopting a model.
Lebanon’s finance and technology ministers met representatives from Visa last week to discuss a proposed unified national digital payment platform for government services, according to a readout from the Ministry of Finance.
The meeting brought together Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence Kamal Shehadeh, a Visa delegation, and experts from both ministries. Discussion focused on whether Lebanon could establish a single platform through which citizens and institutions would pay taxes, fees, fines and other official transactions electronically, using mobile phones and other digital channels.
The Visa delegation presented examples from countries that have adopted unified government payment platforms, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Estonia and Jordan. According to the readout, the examples were presented as having increased collection rates and expanded financial inclusion.
Talks covered settlement mechanisms, direct transfer to the treasury account, financial reconciliation, risk management, cybersecurity, fees, and an operational model that would involve the private sector. The parties agreed to continue technical and institutional consultations, prepare a comparative study, and develop an implementation roadmap before any decision on adopting a model for Lebanon.
Jaber said the Ministry of Finance had already enabled citizens to pay using credit cards and e-wallets through transfer companies, but described the proposed platform as a further step. He framed the development of electronic payment and collection systems as a priority within the ministry’s modernization plan.
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Shehadeh outlined the citizen-facing concept as a single mobile application through which users could settle obligations to ministries, government institutions and other bodies.
“The idea, in short, is that any citizen downloads an application on their mobile phone, through which they can pay all service obligations for all ministries, government institutions, or those owned by the Lebanese state, and others as well, as the platform is not limited only to state institutions,” he said.
Shehadeh added that the platform would not displace banks and money transfer companies that currently provide collection services to the state, calling it complementary to their work.
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