Visa, the US-based electronic payments multinational, holds 82% of the international branded card market in Angola, with approximately 60,000 merchants — primarily small and medium-sized enterprises — currently accepting payments through its network.

The figure was disclosed by Angola's Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, at the inauguration of Visa's permanent office in Luanda on Tuesday (3), marking a decade of the company's presence in the Angolan market.

Massano said Angola needs "institutions with this technological capacity, with a vision for the development of payment systems, operating in a more present way" in the country.

The minister stated that Angola has been implementing macroeconomic reforms to ensure broader and more diversified growth. This process, he explained, has "made it possible to develop a set of solutions so that more Angolans have access to secure, competitive payment systems", with the contribution of Empresa Interbancária de Serviços (EMIS), established in 2001 to digitalise payment instruments in the country and responsible for the Multicaixa network.

This year, EMIS concluded an agreement with Visa enabling the acceptance of the multinational's cards across the entire Multicaixa network.

"But our expectation is that the entire payments network in Angola should be able to accept payments with internationally branded cards, with Visa cards," Massano said.

With the opening of the Luanda office, the minister expressed hope that the partnership would be broadened to leverage "the capabilities that Visa also offers in terms of innovation and the digitalisation of payments of any scale".

Godfrey Sullivan, Visa's Director of Solutions for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), said the company operates in 200 countries and establishes operations in markets where it has partner banks and fintech companies.

Sullivan described Angola as a priority market for Visa among the 54 African countries where it operates. He also revealed that, in addition to expanding among small businesses, Visa is in discussions with the Ministry of Tourism to extend its services to that sector.

According to Sullivan, since January the number of merchants accepting Visa card payments has risen from 10,000 to 60,000. The company intends to double that figure to 120,000.