Visa, a global leader in digital payments, has partnered with Checkout.com and Stake, MENA’s leading digital real estate investment platform, to introduce an innovative cross-border account funding solution. This first-of-its-kind partnership in GCC leverages Visa Direct cross-border Account Funding Solution, enabling consumers to seamlessly and swiftly upload funds to their Stake accounts to invest in prime rental properties in the UAE.
This cutting-edge solution simplifies the complex global digital payment landscape, ensuring seamless and convenient investments from anywhere in the world and round-the-clock coverage, 365 days a year. Furthermore, it creates a new digital investment opportunity for both regional and international investors, facilitating their entry into the vibrant UAE real estate market and promoting the democratization of real estate investment.
Salima Gutieva, Visa’s VP and Country Manager for UAE, said, “At Visa, we’re committed to enabling individuals and businesses to move money domestically and globally. This partnership with Checkout.com and Stake marks the inaugural implementation in the region of our cross-border account funding for real estate transactions. With this innovative digital payment capability, investments in the UAE’s thriving real estate sector from anywhere in the world will now be easier, quicker, and more secure than before.”
As a payment solutions provider, flexibility, agility, and performance are paramount, and at Checkout.com, we take pride in embodying these qualities. Upon the announcement of Visa’s new product launch, we promptly adopted it, aligning with our commitment to ensuring our merchants continually enhance acceptance rates while minimizing costs and maximizing performance,” explained Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager at Checkout.com MENA. He further expressed enthusiasm about extending this innovative cross-border solution to Stake, confident that it will empower them to streamline payments efficiently and cost-effectively with enhanced performance.”
Manar Mahmassani, Co-founder and co-CEO of Stake, said ”We at Stake are passionate about making real estate investing easy and accessible to everyone, no matter where you are. Through our new partnership with Visa and Checkout.com, we have not only strengthened our global connectivity and reach, we have also brought to the MENA region a first-of-its-kind innovation, allowing more people to seamlessly connect and invest in our part of the world. This is a major step towards fulfilling our vision of making real estate truly borderless.”
Amidst the UAE’s expanding economy, the real estate market is experiencing significant growth. According to ValuStrat, the third quarter of 2023 witnessed the highest quarterly capital gains in a decade, with prime property valuations growing by 16.5% YoY. Notably, villa valuations surpassed the peaks observed in 2014 by 2.6%, reflecting a substantial 19.8% YoY and 7.6% quarter-on-quarter increase in villa prices[1].
Visa Direct is a solution building on more than 60 years of industry expertise. Today, Visa Direct serves as a vast money movement network with a reach of 190+ markets combining cards, accounts, and wallet end points. The solution allows for fast and secure payments to travel across the world. The unique partnership between Visa, Checkout.com, and Stake redefines the real estate landscape by driving innovation and accelerating new payment solutions.
