Nexi and Visa partner to Deliver Nexi Ready Issuing Services in Germany

WHY THIS MATTERS: The announcement of a strategic alliance between PayTech giant Nexi and global network Visa is far more than a simple regional deal; it codifies the growing confidence in a “buy” strategy over “make” for core banking services across Europe. German financial institutions, facing intense pressure to deliver digital-first experiences while managing complex regulatory and security burdens, can no longer afford to build and maintain their issuing stack in-house. This partnership accelerates the availability of industrialized, fully managed solutions, removing the technological drag. It represents a critical inflection point where two major players are combining their strengths—Nexi’s operational depth and Visa’s ubiquity and security features—to standardize how next-generation card programs are delivered. For banks, this means freeing up internal capacity to focus on customer-differentiating front-end propositions, which is essential in the current competitive environment of payments modernization.

Nexi, the European PayTech, and Visa, a global payments technology company, today announced a strategic partnership to scale managed issuing solutions in Germany, enabling banks to accelerate the modernization of card issuing.

Payments is a rapidly evolving ecosystem shaped by constant tech innovation, heightened fraud and security requirements, wallet and tokenization capabilities, regulatory and compliance obligations, and, crucially, rising customer expectations for seamless and intuitive digital experiences. 

The long-term strategic agreement will allow Nexi to provide end-to-end managed issuing products for banks offering customers a full range of Visa cards. Banks will benefit from faster time-to-market, continuous access to innovation, and a high-quality customer experience.

The partnership is designed around a fully managed product approach, which Nexi has already successfully deployed in Italy. Nexi manages the end-to-end complexity of the modern payment products – from implementation, operations, compliance to ongoing innovation – so banks can prioritize differentiated propositions and customer engagement.

With Nexi Ready, German banks can bring new card propositions to market without adding operational complexity or tying up internal capacity. This includes targeted, differentiated programs such as premium cards for affluent and high net worth customers, SME and business cards with integrated control tools, and digital first youth propositions with seamless onboarding. Delivered as a fully-managed service by Nexi and enhanced through Visa’s innovation and security capabilities, these propositions enable banks to focus on customer value while benefiting from a modern, scalable issuing stack.

“This partnership with Visa will accelerate a paradigm shift in the way issuers in Germany are supported by third-party specialists like Nexi,” says Christian Segersven, Co-lead of Issuing Business in Nexi Group. “Serving more than 100 banks and millions of cardholders, we provide banks fully managed, end-to-end issuing products targeting individual cardholder needs with digital-first experiences. This enables banks to move faster and invest where it matters most, deepening customer relationships, enhancing journeys, and growing long-term customer value.”

Visa’s engagement with Nexi in Germany confirms the strategic value of this ongoing shift from “make” to “buy”, and reflects Nexi’s ability to deliver scalable, industrialized payment capabilities, supporting banks as they innovate in issuing.

“We are pleased to partner with Nexi to support the next wave of payments innovation in Germany,” says Tobias Czekalla, Country Head, Visa Germany. “Nexi brings a proven ability to deliver scalable payments capabilities and a new era of fully managed issuing products, and this collaboration recognizes the need for banks to modernize faster while benefiting from Visa’s global network, innovation drive and security expertise.” 

The partners will work together to bring the new, combined model to the German banking market.

FF NEWS TAKE: This is a definitive move that sets a new pace for payments modernization in the highly regulated German market. By delivering a proven, managed service model, Nexi and Visa are forcing the conversation away from core replacement feasibility and toward strategic front-end differentiation. This deal moves the needle by establishing a powerful blueprint for other major European banks. We expect to see other global payment networks quickly follow suit, seeking similar partnerships to secure their long-term relevance in outsourced card issuing stack management.