The solution allows merchants in Brazil - especially sole traders - to receive the money transacted via the payleven Chip & PIN card reader without requiring a separate bank account. The money will be transferred directly to their prepaid credit card.

With the new product, payleven focuses on a market that is currently not reached by mPOS solution providers since, until now, only business owners with a bank account were able to accept card payments. The prepaid credit card will be issued under the name of the merchant and delivered with the Chip & PIN card reader. The owner may use it to make purchases and withdraw money at a Visa Plus ATM. Additionally, all purchases made with the prepaid credit card appear in their payleven account: so they can keep track of their business activity.

“With the new partnership and our new product, we are not only driving innovation but also moving forward as a financial technology company. The payleven Visa prepaid card increases the market for our mPOS solution and offers a large number of entrepreneurs access to electronic payments for the first time”, explains Konstantin Wolff, Managing Director and Co-founder of payleven.

“This solution fits well in one of our pillars, increasing penetration of electronic payments into new business segments, bringing more convenience and security”, explains Renato Rocha, Director of Merchant Sales & Solutions Brazil of Visa. “By enabling non-banked merchants to accept card payments, this solution opens the door to financially include many professionals who previously could only receive cash payments, contributing to an expansion of their business”, he concludes.

According to a research by Data Popular Institute, in 2013, 39.5% of Brazilians aged 18 or older - which corresponds to approximately 55 million of Brazil’s population - do not have a bank account. Therefore, payleven and Visa aim to provide SME merchants an opportunity to access card payments without signing up for a separate bank account.