LINE Pay and Visa will collaborate on fintech solutions.

LINE said Thursday that its digital wallet fintech service provider LINE Pay had formed a strategic partnership with Visa, the global payment solution enterprise.

The two companies plan to develop a blockchain-based service to support business-to-business (B2B), cross-border payments and alternative currency transactions in fintech services. Alternative currency refers to cryptocurrency.

Under the partnership, LINE users can apply for a digital visa card within the LINE app. They can register their existing visa cards at the app too. LINE’s global monthly active users number about 187 million. LINE Pay users will be able to exploit LINE Pay service through 54 million Visa affiliates around the world.

LINE is ready to contribute to Japan’s accelerating cashless campaign before and after the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. LINE Pay and Visa plan to carry out marketing and promotional events in the run-up to the Olympics.

LINE Pay CEO Ko Young-su said, “LINE Pay is more than just a payment method. This partnership will serve as a cornerstone for LINE Pay users to enjoy the advantages of the worldwide network based on Visa’s global network and infrastructure.”

“The Visa co-brand program that currently serves 2.3 million customers in Taiwan is one of Visa’s fastest-growing programs globally,” said Chris Clark, Visa’s regional president for Asia Pacific, adding that “Visa will spearhead the growth of the global open-loop payments ecosystem on the basis of the potential of LINE’s distribution power and consumer loyalty.” “We will offer benefits to all players on our network -- consumers, merchants and issuing and acquiring banks,” Clark added. /shim@decenter.kr

Shim Doo-bo