Aleta’s fintech solution allows local and regional SMEs to issue custom Visa cards 

[SINGAPORE] Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore can now issue Visa-branded debit cards, with Visa and Singapore fintech Aleta announcing their partnership on Friday (Jun 19).

As a principal member of Visa, allowing it to issue branded cards and acquire merchants, Aleta – formerly known as Aleta Planet – can sponsor or “lend” its bank identification number (BIN) issued by Visa on behalf of SMEs that want to launch their own cards.

BIN is the global standard for routing cross-border payments.

“It is a consultative approach,” said Ryan Gwee, founder and group chairman of Aleta. “BIN sponsorship is a very quick way to get a co-branded card to the market.”

He added that Aleta acts at the back end, providing compliance, technology and legal support to help companies issue the branded card.

Traditionally, most card issuances have been done through collaborations with larger banks. SMEs without large revenue flows were not able to issue white-labelled cards, which are customised with the logo, colours and branding of the company itself.

This new arrangement thus allows smaller businesses to do what only large corporations could do previously: issue branded debit cards, manage the regulatory backend and tap customer spending data.

Opening up possibilities

Aleta said its plug-and-play technology allows SMEs to customise rewards and service add-ons, while it manages operational and regulatory requirements on their behalf.

Onboarding is structured across tiers, with the level of integration required depending on how deeply a business wants the card woven into its existing systems and rewards programme.

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This can cut time to market to as fast as two weeks for co-branded and white-labelled Visa cards.

Beyond speed, branded payment cards give SMEs visibility into customer spending patterns that can sharpen marketing, rewards programmes and customer loyalty efforts.

The SMEs will also be able to create new revenue from sharing the interchange fees – charges that an acquiring bank pays to the cardholder’s bank – and foreign exchange spreads with their BIN sponsors.

The move comes as falling technology costs accelerate embedded finance – the integration of financial services into non-financial products – making card issuance newly accessible to smaller players.

Adeline Kim, Visa’s group country manager, regional South-east Asia, and senior vice-president, global clients and acquirers, Asia-Pacific, said: “Since Visa actively opened our network to non-bank players more than a decade ago, we’ve seen a wave of new issuers emerge, from neobanks and fintechs to ride-hailing platforms.”

She noted that through partnerships with fintechs such as Aleta, with their strong ties to the SME community, the firm is able to welcome another previously untapped segment.

Integrating lifestyle into payments

On Thursday, Aleta unveiled its first product under the Visa programme: a debit card with Cinnamoroll, a character from Japanese lifestyle brand Sanrio.

The card is set to launch on Jun 22, ahead of a roll-out with other Sanrio characters, such as Hello Kitty and Kuromi.

Applications for the card will be open through the new Aleta Adventure application, a digital platform combining the collectibles culture with everyday cashless payments.

On the collaboration with Sanrio, Gwee pointed to the global toys and games market, which is projected to reach US$98.5 billion by 2029, according to Euromonitor International.

Gwee said the Sanrio card is Aleta’s first such collaboration. It is a template for future partners, pointing to potential tie-ups with computer gaming, Web3 and travel companies.

“The series is just a collectible start of play to showcase our BIN sponsorship capabilities,” he added.