Since 2001, Visa and FINCA have partnered to improve the efficiency, flexibility and security of financial transactions made by FINCA clients through the use of electronic payment technologies.

Visa has provided substantial in-kind assistance to develop a series of projects and has helped FINCA secure more than $1 million in grant funding to push the projects forward.

One of FINCA Nicaragua's first cardholders

In Nicaragua, where FINCA clients first received Visa-branded loan disbursement cards, the technology is reducing transaction times for both clients and for FINCA, lowering transaction costs associated with loan processing, and providing FINCA's clients more secure access to their loan capital by reducing the possibility of cash theft.

FINCA currently is working to introduce electronic payment solutions in Mexico and Uganda, with network-wide expansion in the future.

On a philanthropic level, Visa’s employee giving campaign generated more than $100,000 in donations for FINCA in 2006 and 2007. Visa also has sponsored numerous FINCA events and provided a $50,000 matching grant to help drive donations to FINCA's web site in support of FINCA's Village Banking Campaign.  Finally, Visa provided FINCA with nearly $2 million worth of advertisements in dozens of major US and European publications. 

The Visa–FINCA partnership, a full-featured strategic alliance that both develops new products for use by FINCA's clients and provides financial support to FINCA, is a model that FINCA seeks to build on with other companies around the world.