Marqeta partners with Fitbank for Brazil expansion

As part of Marqeta’s collaboration with Fitbank, the company will be both a Marqeta customer, leveraging it as a payment processor, and act as a BIN sponsor for Marqeta’s customers looking to launch in the region. Marqeta’s Brazil expansion is set to enable its current global customers to expand into a quickly evolving fintech hotspot, while also providing access to its card issuing platform for local fintechs and payment innovators.

Marqeta’s Brazil expansion and details on its partnership with Fitbank

Based on the information provided in the press release, following its Brazil launch, the Marqeta platform can now operate in more than countries worldwide. IMF data highlights that Brazil is the 10th largest economy in the world and is also ranked as the largest fintech market in Latin America. It is considered a logical expansion point for a multitude of Marqeta’s customers and has a base of local fintechs that aims to build new innovations on modern payment infrastructure.

As a BaaS platform, Fitbank provides a custom-built, cloud-native, complete banking and credit infrastructure to thousands of customers, and is among the first modern platforms to be licenced by the Central Bank and directly integrated with PIX, Brazil’s real-time payments system. Currently, they are a principal member of Visa, having plans for future network expansion.

Marqeta is set to act as Fitbank’s tech platform to support local card issuance and card payment processing in Brazil, while also leveraging Marqeta’s Real-Time Decisioning engine to improve its fraud management capabilities. Additionally, Fitbank will serve as Marqeta’s local BIN sponsor and BaaS provider.

When commenting on the announcement, Todd Pollak, Chief Revenue Officer at Marqeta advised that the collaboration with Fitbank and launch in Brazil enabled them to bring the Marqeta platform to one of the most exciting fintech markets in the world, adding that the companies are a fit, as Fitbank is a tech-forward platform looking to build ‘innovative payment solutions’.

Otávio Farah, co-founder, and CEO at Fitbank stated that the company has been following Marqeta’s growth and expansion and given the fact that Fitbank is also planning to expand globally, Marqeta was considered an appropriate card issuing partner in Brazil. Per their statement, the collaboration is set to enable global companies and local innovators alike to bring payment products to market, amplifying the strengths of both companies.

Marqeta offering and strategy

As a modern card issuing platform, Marqeta empowers customers to create customised and innovative payment cards. Its open APIs-powered platform enables clients to build increasingly configurable and flexible payment experiences, expedited product development and democratising access to card issuing tech. Its modern architecture offers instant access to highly scalable, cloud-based payment infrastructure that helps customers launch and manage their own card programmes, issue cards, and authorise and settle transactions.