Visa announced that it has partnered with global payments company Thunes to help individuals and small businesses move money internationally across 44 countries and territories in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

This collaboration adds a cross-border send-to-wallet capability to the 78 digital wallet providers that are already integrated with Thunes by connecting its B2B payments platform with Visa Direct.

Financial institutions, governments, neobanks and money transfer operators will be able to utilise this new functionality to enable consumers and small businesses to send funds to markets across the above-mentioned regions where digital wallets may be the go-to payment method.

Consumers are not required to have a card or account to load or receive funds directly to their digital wallet.

This partnership will now expand Visa Direct’s reach to nearly 7 billion endpoints, including more than 3 billion cards, over 2 billion accounts and 1.5 billion digital wallets.

Visa Direct now supports 160 currencies, connecting to 16 card-based networks, 66 domestic Automated Clearing House (ACH) schemes, 11 Real-Time Payment (RTP) networks and five payment gateways.

“From an agricultural worker in Bangladesh to a young professional in London who is looking to send money to family overseas, Visa strives to create more ways for individuals and SMBs to participate in the global economy.

We are thrilled to collaborate with Thunes and help enable quick and simple access to the financial system to more customers around the world who may use digital wallets as their primary financial instrument.”

said Ruben Salazar Genovez, Global Head of Visa Direct.

“We are thrilled that of all the payment companies, Visa, the global leader in payments, is working with Thunes on this launch.

Through the combined power of Visa’s scale and Thunes’ payment infrastructure, this collaboration has the potential to help develop a new global era for inclusive and accessible global payments.”

said Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes.