The new 7,000ft2 Singapore facility will serve as a destination for clients, partners and developers, across the region, to work alongside Visa experts and jointly create the next generation of payment and commerce applications.
This builds off the success of Visa’s flagship innovation center, One Market Center, which was opened in July 2014, and is located at the company’s headquarter in San Francisco. Additional innovation centers will be opened in other regions later this year, and in 2017.
Accessible to both local and global clients, the new Singapore innovation center will provide Visa’s partners with access to Visa APIs and software developer kits (SDKs) available through the company’s Visa Developer Platform.
A hands-on, real-time work space staffed by Visa technologists and business leaders, the center will operate as a commercial gateway, helping Visa’s partners to build market-relevant solutions that extend their service offerings into Asia.
Singapore Economic Development Board Chairman said: "We are pleased that Visa has chosen Singapore to set up its first innovation center in Asia Pacific.
"The center will focus on the development of leading-edge technology, new applications and business model innovation for clients and key partners in this region.
"Visa seeks to collaborate with the broader corporate ecosystem in Singapore, including start-ups. Its decision to open a center here is a strong affirmation of Singapore’s growing role as an innovation hotbed in this region."
According to Accenture, fintech investment in the Asia Pacific region has increased significantly from an estimated US$880 million in 2014 to nearly US$3.5 billion in the first nine months of 2015 — with 40 percent of investment deals specific to payments.
Visa group executive for Asia Pacific Chris Clark said: "The pace of technological innovation across Asia Pacific is unprecedented and creating enormous opportunity for any company that touches the growing payment ecosystem.
"With the doors of Visa’s Singapore innovation center now officially open, we look forward to working alongside clients and partners to imagine and build the creative and leading-edge mobile and digital experiences Asia Pacific is known to deliver to the rest of the world."