Visa and Romanian company Symphopay announce strategic partnership. In a CEE first, the Symphopay One platform enables Visa Intelligent Authorisation for banks an other FIs.
This marks a first for a Romanian company and represents an important milestone in Symphopay’s international expansion strategy. The partnership connects Visa Intelligent Authorisation with Symphopay ONE, giving acquirers (banks and other financial institutions) a faster path to launch integrated acquiring operations, modernise legacy payment processing through a single API connection and unlock innovation.
Both Visa and Symphopay have been long-standing Gold Partners of Banking 4.0, sharing many memorable moments over the years. One such milestone was the launch of Symphopay ONE at the 2025 edition of Banking 4.0.
Visa, a global leader in digital payments, and Symphopay, a financial technology company specialising in merchant acquiring infrastructure, today announced a strategic partnership to help banks across Central and Eastern Europe develop new merchant acquiring solutions and modernise their existing platforms.
The partnership connects Visa Intelligent Authorisation, a modern payment authorisation capability available through the Visa Acceptance Platform, with Symphopay ONE. Visa Intelligent Authorisation enables acquirers to modernise legacy payment processing through a single API connection, strengthening operational resilience without requiring a complete infrastructure rebuild.
As a strategic technology partner, Visa brings global digital payments expertise, advanced acceptance capabilities and API-based services to help acquirers strengthen security, reduce compliance complexity and streamline operations. Through Symphopay ONE, banks will be able to integrate Visa Intelligent Authorisation within their broader acquiring environment and access value-added services from the Visa Acceptance Platform, including tokenisation, advanced fraud and risk management capabilities. Together, these solutions support operational efficiency, accelerate innovation and focus more resources on delivering value to customers.
Symphopay ONE brings these capabilities together with merchant onboarding and management, card present and card not present processing, multi vendor terminal management, unified reporting and analytics, and customer acquisition and marketing tools. The platform connects banking systems, processors, payment channels, terminal estates and merchant applications within a unified operating environment.
A stronger starting point for new acquirers
For banks and financial institutions entering merchant acquiring, obtaining the required licences is only the first step. Building the business requires payment processing, merchant management, terminal operations, risk controls, reporting and a competitive merchant proposition.
Bringing these capabilities together within a unified platform gives new acquirers a stronger starting point. It supports a faster market launch, accelerates innovation and creates the foundation for differentiated merchant services and new revenue opportunities from the beginning.
Banks can use ONE as the technology platform for developing and operating their merchant acquiring services while retaining control over their licence, commercial strategy and merchant relationships.
Progressive modernisation for established acquiring banks
Established acquiring banks face a different challenge. Their payment infrastructure is often reliable, but fragmented across legacy systems, channels and technology providers. This fragmentation can limit operational visibility and slow the introduction of new services.
Symphopay ONE provides a unified merchant acquiring platform connected to the bank’s core banking systems through a single API. Visa Intelligent Authorisation is integrated within ONE alongside merchant management, card present and card not present transaction processing, multi vendor terminal management, support for clearing and settlement, unified reporting and analytics.
This allows banks to modernise progressively, extend the capabilities of their existing infrastructure and introduce new merchant services without replacing the entire acquiring stack. The bank retains control over its operating model, commercial strategy and customer relationships throughout the transformation.
Business growth beyond payment processing
Merchant acquiring can create value beyond payment acceptance. By connecting processing, merchant operations and transaction data, banks can strengthen merchant relationships and develop services that differentiate their acquiring proposition.
Symphopay ONE enables banks to use their payments infrastructure to run customer acquisition campaigns, deliver more relevant services and offer merchants tools to engage their own customers.
This combination transforms acquiring infrastructure into a platform for operational efficiency, faster innovation and business growth.The initial focus of the partnership will be Central and Eastern Europe.
Katarzyna Pawlowicz, Head of VAS for CEE at Visa, said:
“Banks across Central and Eastern Europe are looking for trusted, scalable ways to modernise acquiring and deliver better payment experiences for merchants. Visa Acceptance Platform brings together advanced acceptance, authorisation, security, risk and compliance capabilities to help financial institutions improve performance and strengthen resilience. As part of a growing network of acquirers and processors on the platform, Symphopay will enable banks to innovate faster while continuing to serve merchants reliably and efficiently.”
Daniel Nicolescu (photo), CEO and Cofounder of Symphopay, said:
“Acquiring becomes strategically valuable when a bank can connect payment processing, operations, data and merchant services. Together with Visa, we are giving banks the infrastructure to do this while retaining control over their commercial model and merchant relationships. This creates the foundation for banks to transform acquiring from a processing function into a platform for differentiation and growth.”
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Symphopay is a financial technology company providing payment and merchant acquiring infrastructure for banks and enterprise merchants. Its flagship platform, Symphopay ONE, integrates merchant management, card present and card not present processing, multi vendor terminal management, reporting and analytics, security, fraud management and commercial growth capabilities within a unified environment.
Symphopay technology is currently connected to the acquiring infrastructures of eight banks and supports more than 10,000 payment terminals. Companies using Symphopay solutions include Profi, Farmacia Tei and Bebe Tei, FAN Courier, Sameday, Annabella and Selgros.
Founded in 2015 by a team with more than 25 years of experience in digital payments, Symphopay technology is used by banks and enterprise merchants to manage complex payment operations across physical and digital channels.
