Loyalty technology company Ascenda has announced a partnership with payments processor Visa in the Asia Pacific region.
The partnership will see Visa leveraging Ascenda’s new Nexus platform, offering its partners that ability to quickly implement rewards programmes for their customers.
Nexus is a customer engagement solution focused on rapid deployment thanks to not requiring any technical integration. The platform supports its existing line-up of points-based and cashback loyalty options such as OffersHub.
“Nexus transforms how financial institutions launch rewards propositions, requiring minimal up-front investment and lead-time,” said Mark Mullinix, Head of Strategy & Partnerships at Ascenda. “Its simple and rapid deployment model unlocks vast scalability for Ascenda’s suite of customer engagement solutions.”
The companies said that reward programmes were necessarily evolving in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed how people shop – as well as denting traditional benefits such as air miles.
Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa, said: “As Visa evolves our business beyond cards, reward programs are becoming more digital, more engaging, more personalised, and easier to adapt to new opportunities. Our partnership with Ascenda ensures Visa is able to deliver loyalty platforms that match the pace of digital adoption our bank and fintech partners need.”
Visa and Ascenda said the partnership would leverage the former’s API services to allow Ascenda to authenticate customers securely and identify reward-eligible transactions, taking the burden off the issuer. Ascenda’s digital rewards portal also features offers and promotions from merchants via the Visa Offers Exchange.
“Visa and Ascenda already have a strong track record of partnering to equip top-tier banks with leading customer engagement solutions,” said Sebastian Grobys, chief commercial officer at Ascenda. “With Visa now leveraging our new Nexus model and integrating Visa’s existing engagement solutions for rapid deployment, we are unlocking significantly greater scale for our collaboration going forward.”
