Welcome to another update on Connect Financial. We’ve been hinting at some essential partner-related news for the last couple of updates, and it’s time to stop being coy and make some announcements. I’ll also cover an update on card manufacturing and some marketing updates.
Let’s get into it.
The flagship Connect Financial credit card will launch on the Visa network.
We will got to market with card tiers available across the Visa product suite, including the Platinum, Signature and Infinite programs. Cards will be available for customers in more than 130 countries worldwide, with more to come as we continue to roll out.
This is a massive outcome for Connect Financial, representing many months of legal, compliance and business-related work.
Why Visa?
As you know, we were previously going to launch on the Mastercard network.
So, why the change?
In line with our previous update, where we shared how we’re building a suite of financial products designed to be fully compliant and regulated within the Tradfi space, developing Connect Financial has brought unique challenges quite different to projects operating solely on the blockchain.
For instance, in an upcoming token project, a key decision centers around selecting the right blockchain for launch. Should it be on the ETH chain, Solana, or another network? This choice impacts business models funding access, technology stacks, and more, but ultimately, it remains an internal decision for each project. Connect Financial is different, as one of our core USPs is serving as a bridge between the digital asset space and the TradFi. This means our reliance on banking, processing, manufacturing and legal & compliance relationships in the physical world makes it far more complex than simply choosing a provider from a sales deck.
Banking Relationships
As I’ve previously talked about, to launch a credit card as a financial technology company, there are several key partnerships that need to be in place (all of which impact on each other):
• Our sponsor bank
• Our payment processor
• Our card manufacturer
• The payment network.
The sponsor bank is arguably the most challenging one to get right, since it has the most significant impact on our go-to-market plan.
During this process, we entered into relationships with several organizations to decide who would be best to partner with. There have been many sessions of detailed due diligence on all aspects of the business to arrive at the natural fit for us and them.
Naturally, during the process, we progressed with some partners, descoped other partners and eliminated certain partners from the journey, all to arrive at the best partner to serve the Connect Financial ambitions of the best product suite in the digital asset and TradFi.
We believe we have.
Our chosen sponsor bank allows us to offer cards globally, as well as allowing us to offer virtual bank accounts to customers in 180 countries. This is a significant boon for us since the alternative to a global rollout is to seek BIN sponsorship geo-by-geo – a prolonged and expensive endeavour.
Our sponsor bank is deeply integrated with Visa, making our choice to switch to them (relatively) easy. In addition, Visa offers an excellent benefits package for end users and a suite of services that we can use to reduce fraud, provide tailored offers and offer a full range of payment solutions.
Of course, while this update has been in development for some time now, we have been forced to keep quiet until it was the right time, ensuring all necessary terms and conditions and adherence to policy were maintained. Thankfully, we’re now in a position to be able to make this update, and we firmly believe that this transition is in the best interests of our business and most importantly, for our users.
It’s important to reiterate that this journey we’ve embarked upon means we’re close to providing an innovative and rewarding suite of products to our community, however, this is not a trivial endeavour.
Nobody wants to have the product out there more than we do, and we’re working incredibly hard each day to make that happen as soon as possible. However…
We must do this right.
We must launch right.
We get one shot at going to market.
All of the work that has gone on in the background behind closed doors (which we recognise comes at the frustrations of our community at times) is absolutely for the benefit of our community and puts us in a much stronger position to provide a viable suite of products that work for you, but also means that Connect Financial can grow a strong foundation for the future.
Given the extensive changes across various areas of our business, we’ve had to delay the launch of our updated website to ensure it meets our highest standards as well product alignment.
Several test websites have been provided to the community in numerous forms, feedback from which was incorporated and included in our materials.
It’s worth noting that while some of these changes are being propagated through the back-end portal, we’re pleased that the new marketing website is now ready for release. We’ve given the site a complete overhaul and a more modern design aesthetic. I’m sure you’ll agree that much work has been done on finessing messaging with an improved customer journey, which will help support customer onboarding.
Please click around the site to discover more.
One of the more exciting steps is bringing the card to life through manufacturing, which involves multiple sign offs, technical integration and plenty of fun choices around design, materials and finishes.
Since the physical card is a tangible representation of our product— and something that you’ll touch and feel every day, —it’s a key touchpoint for Connect Financial, so we’re focused on making it just right.
We’ve recently expanded our engineering team to bolster our existing development efforts. They’re currently deeply focused on integrating our partners, hardening the core systems and allowing business clients to access our service suite.
In addition, we’ve also brought on new members to the Compliance team to ensure that our systems comply with stringent AML/CTF regulations and that all of our fraud management and security protocols are in place.
As we’re nearing the home stretch and have begun ticking off the necessary legal, regulatory, and partnership milestones, we’re looking forward to getting the community involved in testing the platform and making the first transactions.
Suffice to say, a lot is going on.
Everyone wants this product suite out – and no one more than me – but as I keep saying, we will ensure this is done correctly for a successful rollout.
Till the next time, be safe and look after each other.
Connect Financial
