Visa Acquires Argentina’s Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay in Strategic Expansion of Latin American Payments Footprint

Visa has agreed to acquire Prisma Medios de Pago — Argentina’s largest merchant acquirer and payment processor — along with its subsidiary Newpay, a growing fintech focused on digital payments and banking solutions. The move represents one of Visa’s most significant expansions in Latin America, where trends in digital commerce, contactless payments and fintech innovation are rapidly outpacing legacy card penetration. The acquisition enables Visa to gain stronger access to merchant acquiring, acquiring processing infrastructure and direct connections with major retailers and banks in Argentina, a market where the use of cards and digital payments has surged despite economic volatility.

Prisma — spun off from a consortium of Argentine banks and telephone operators in the 1990s — processes a wide range of electronic transactions, from point-of-sale (POS) and e-commerce to mobile wallets. Its fintech arm, Newpay, has built digital account and wallet products that appeal to younger and underbanked segments, adding a modern digital layer to Prisma’s core capabilities. By bringing these assets into its global ecosystem, Visa is positioning itself to drive accelerated adoption of Visa-branded payments, bolster local innovation, and extend services that go beyond traditional card-centric models to encompass wallets, banking APIs and value-added merchant services.

Key Highlights

• Major acquisition: Visa has agreed to buy Argentina’s Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay, expanding its payments network in Latin America.
• Market impact: Strengthens Visa’s footprint in one of the region’s largest payments markets amid accelerating digital adoption.
• Combined capabilities: Prisma’s merchant acquiring and Newpay’s digital fintech offerings bring together traditional and modern payment infrastructure.
• Consumer fintech growth: Newpay adds digital accounts, wallets and mobile payment solutions to Visa’s portfolio.
• Strategic timing: The deal aligns with surging e-commerce, contactless and digital wallet usage in Argentina.
• Local partnerships: Visa plans to integrate Prisma’s merchant base and Newpay’s customer network into its global ecosystem.

Why This Matters

1. Deepening Latin American Payments Leadership

Latin America has emerged as one of the fastest-growing regions for digital payments, driven by smartphone penetration, increasing online commerce and rising demand for digital wallets and alternative payment methods. Visa’s acquisition of Prisma — a dominant local processor — provides stronger control over clearing and settlement, merchant onboarding and local pricing dynamics, while reducing reliance on third-party acquirers in the region.

2. Aligning Traditional Payments with Fintech Innovation

While Prisma has long been a core back-end processor for cards and merchant services, Newpay represents a more modern digital payments mindset, offering accounts, wallets and app-driven features tailored to evolving consumer behaviour. Combining these businesses enables Visa to bridge legacy systems with agile fintech capabilities, delivering more omnichannel payment experiences to consumers and merchants alike.

3. Integrating Digital Accounts and Wallets

Newpay’s digital assets — including online accounts, wallets and value-added services — complement Visa’s existing product suite, allowing it to pursue broader engagement beyond just payment acceptance. Users could benefit from linked accounts, digital onboarding, savings and spending analytics, and loyalty features tailored to the Argentine market.

What Prisma and Newpay Bring to Visa

Prisma Medios de Pago

Prisma is one of Argentina’s largest payment processors and acquirers, handling point-of-sale (POS), e-commerce and mobile transactions for thousands of merchants. It also supports local banks with processing, reconciliation and settlements — a layer that Visa can now integrate to streamline flows across Visa rails, local banks and fintech partners.

Newpay

Newpay is a fintech subsidiary known for its digital onboarding, contactless payments, mobile wallets and digital account services, attracting a growing customer base across Argentina. Visa’s backing could accelerate Newpay’s product roadmap, expand features like virtual cards, savings wallets and cross-border payments, and integrate Visa-branded offerings directly into the digital experience.

Market and Competitive Context

Visa’s acquisition comes amid increased competition in Latin America from both global and regional players, including Mastercard, Mercado Pago, Nubank, PagSeguro and other fintech-driven platforms. While Mastercard has also been investing locally, Visa’s purchase of Prisma — which controls key processing infrastructure — gives it a potential strategic advantage in scale, merchant reach and technology integration.

The deal also reflects a shift in how payment ecosystems are constructed: rather than acting only as a card network on top of local processors, Visa is moving toward a vertical stack that includes processing, merchant services, digital wallets and customer engagement — a model increasingly seen among global networks adapting to fintech disruption.

Challenges and Regulatory Considerations

Large acquisitions in the payments space must navigate antitrust reviews, data protection regulations, and central bank oversight, especially in countries like Argentina with unique currency controls and financial regulations. Visa and Prisma will need transparent engagement with regulators to ensure competitive safeguards, interoperability and secure handling of digital financial data.

Additionally, integrating legacy systems with modern fintech stacks requires robust operational alignment, cybersecurity planning and continuity strategies that preserve uptime for merchants and users during transition.

Executive Perspectives

Visa’s leadership noted that the acquisition supports its strategy of “connecting more consumers and merchants to safer, faster and more convenient payment experiences,” while also embracing local innovation and digital transformation.

Prisma’s management has emphasised continuity, expressing optimism that Visa’s global scale will provide access to more advanced technologies, cross-border opportunities and expanded product offerings for merchants and consumers alike.

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