West Africa's Vista Bank Group teams up with Radar Payments

The Pan-African challenger bank Vista, has announced a tie-up with Radar Payments to enhance the fintech’s paytech.

The financial services enterprise which is based in Senegal, is expanding rapidly through a series of successive strategic acquisitions that include First International Bank (FIB) Group in Gambia, BNP Paribas’ Subsidiaries, La Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie de la Guinée (BICIGUI) in Guinea and La Banque Internationale pour le Commerce l’Industrie et l’Agriculture du Burkina (BICIAB) in Burkina Faso.  

Vista plans to challenge the current banking system in West Africa by delivering a superior experience to retail customers, large enterprises and MSMEs across the region. It is currently the leading bank in Guinea by assets and network coverage. 

The news follows on from AfCFTA, the pan-African free trade agreement setting new business standards for 41 countries and 1.2 billion people across Africa to help accelerate economic growth. 

The free trade programme promises a change in trading rules, with reduced import export taxes making commerce more affordable for players in Africa. It also means that the volume of transactions will sharply increase and banks in the continent will have to gear up for a pan-African service. 

Banking payment solutions for Africa

According to reports, Vista selected Radar Payments by BPC as its preferred partner to drive forward digital adoption in the region. Radar Payments will centralise payment operations at Vista’s tech hub in Senegal, supervising Vista Bank’s activities in Guinea, Gambia, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone while leaving room for further banks to join its network. It is part of the bank’s growth agenda to expand to Burkina-Faso, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Mali. 

As part of the collaboration, Vista Bank will run on BPC’s flagship payment suite, SmartVista to manage card issuance and lifecycle management, payment switching, ATM and Point-Of-Sales management. It will also provide digital channels including mobile banking and e-wallet services.

Vista Bank is also planning to accelerate the issuance of UnionPay International (UPI) branded cards including prepaid, debit, and premium cards, in addition to the acquisition in ATM, Point-of-Sales, Contactless, QR payment, and ecommerce.

Speaking about the new collaboration with Radar Payments, Simon Tiemtore, Group Chairman at Vista Bank, explained, “With AfCFTA, banks have to thi nk pan-Africa first, and realise that we need to step up the game in terms of ease of payment, a critical component to every banking and business experience. As a challenger bank, Vista Bank is taking bold decisions when it comes to its technology stack, forming alliances with the best partners in their own fields. By selecting Radar Payments, the paytech by BPC, we have chosen a leader with a solid reputation in delivering superior global payments processing.”

Evgenia Loginova, CEO of Radar Payments, added, “This partnership was born fro m our shared vision to successfully solve real life payment problems with a high-end, globally proven digital solution that focuses on end customers. Together, with the help of cutting-edge digital payment solutions, we will provide easy, instant and secure movement of money, thereby transforming Vista Bank into a trailblazing player within the continent.”