Pliant secures EMI license and Visa principal membership

Berlin, 09.08.2023 - Berlin-based fintech Pliant has obtained the e-money (EMI) license in Finland and become a licensed Visa principal member, taking significant steps forward in becoming a fully fledged financial institution across Europe. Both licenses allow Pliant to issue cards using its own regulatory setup and directly process payments from customers using Visa credit cards. These further demonstrate the seal of approval from a financial supervisory authority.

Pliant has achieved another critical milestone in becoming one of the most comprehensive B2B credit card offerings in the market for customers across Europe, and around the world. Having announced its $28 million Series A fundraising round in February, Pliant has now obtained its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license in Finland that allows it to issue cards using its own regulatory setup, and function more independently from third-party providers, while strengthening its regulatory and compliance framework.

Additionally, Pliant has achieved principal membership with Visa, allowing it to directly issue Visa credit cards, eliminating the need for a third-party issuer. Principal members are only granted this license upon an application process, which amongst others, looks at capabilities such as supporting payment flows for their customers and risk management capabilities.

Pliant has plans to leverage its license in the development of new features and optimize internal processes that previously were heavily reliant on third parties. For example, Pliant’s new Cards-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution allows partner companies to issue their own branded cards through Pliant’s platform and ready-to-go regulatory framework. The EMI license greatly improves the experience for CaaS customers and expands Pliant’s capabilities. Pliant has already begun the process of passporting the license to the remaining EEA countries.

Having already expanded to 8 European countries and released a CaaS solution with regulated third-party entities, getting the EMI license and Visa principal membership demonstrate that Pliant is just as committed to compliance as it is to expansion and innovation. In the future, Pliant will go beyond being a technology platform and become a fully fledged and fully regulated independent payment institution that provides financial services that serve all the unique needs of many types of business customers.

"We are super excited about being granted the EMI license and becoming a licensed Visa principal member. Both licenses will help us to deliver better and faster products to customers and CaaS partners. Finland is a great center for innovation and modern regulation, and Visa is a world leader in digital payments.”

Malte Rau, CEO of Pliant

“The reception of Pliant and the demand for our services has already been good in the Finnish and international markets, and now with our own Finnish license, our position will become even stronger. We are proud to be able to promote Finnish regulators internationally.”

Paula Ranttila, CEO of Pliant Finland

“We are very pleased to further expand our cooperation with Pliant and to welcome the company as Principal Member at Visa", says Ute-Koenig-Stemmler, Head of Business Development, Central Europe, Visa. "At Visa, we support innovative payment startups through our fintech programs and Pliant is a great example of how such initiatives can help fintechs to reach the next level".

About Pliant

Since 2020, Pliant has been on a mission to rethink credit cards and empower companies to grow by providing a smart way to pay that scales with their business. With its app and API-based solutions, Pliant gives companies the ability to issue physical and virtual credit cards, automate payment processes, track spending, and seamlessly integrate all of these data into their finance stack.

More information here.

Press contact:

Malte Rau

malte.rau@getpliant.com

+49 174 245 11 78