HSBC’s Zing Leverages Visa Solutions for Cross-Border Payments

Visa announced Tuesday (July 9) that it partnered with Zing, a FinTech that is part of the HSBC Group, to develop an international payments app that Zing launched in the United Kingdom in January.

The Zing app allows members to hold funds in up to 10 different currencies, send more than 30 currencies, and transact in more than 200 countries and territories, the companies said in a Tuesday press release.

“We shared a clear vision with our partners at Visa — that people all across the globe want easy to use, secure and trustworthy financial products that enable them to live their best international lives,” James Allan, CEO and founder at Zing, said in the release. “Zing delivers on that promise, and we look forward to building on this partnership in the future.”

Zing leverages Visa technology to provide U.K. consumers with low-cost and transparent currency exchange, financial management, instant collections, real-time exchange rates and person-to-person payments — all of which is linked to a Visa card, according to the release.

By collaborating with Visa, Zing was able to have a single point of contact for the project and to leverage the Visa solutions Currencycloud, which enables a multicurrency wallet, and Tink, which allows users to top-up an account via “quick bank transfer” powered by open banking technology, the release said.

Currencycloud and Tink provided the Zing team with ready-made solutions that they added to Zing’s core infrastructure, saving time and money in development, per the release.

“Our partners and customers, and more importantly, their customers, want simplicity,” Serge Elkiner, global head of product, money movement solutions at Visa, said in the release. “By combining the benefits of Tink and Currencycloud with the wider Visa solutions and brand, we have delivered a great solution in double-quick time.”

Visa completed its acquisition of cross-border payments platform Currencycloud in December 2021 and finalized its deal to purchase open banking platform Tink in March 2022.

It was reported in January that Zing’s global payments app aims to take on companies like Wise and Revolut and that after its launch in the U.K., it will be expanded to markets in Asia, the Middle East and the European Union (EU) in the months to come.