Ute Koenig-Stemmler, Head of Business Development & Sales Non-Traditional Financial Institutions, Central Europe at VISA. 

We cover the following topics:

• Ute's Business Development Central Europe mandate

• VISA's activities in the region and in Switzerland in particular

• VISA's investment in the FinTech space (e.g. acquisition of Earthport, a cross-border payments services provider or investment in SolarisBank, Banking-as-a-Platform start-up from Germany)

• VISA's outreach to the FinTech community through VISA Everywhere initiative and their cooperation with Tomorrow, a sustainability-focused bank and Penta, credit cards for SMEs

• Views on partnerships with start-ups and VISA's focus on working with companies looking to scale-up, leveraging their network

• VISA in Switzerland cooperates with Yapeal, first independent Zurich start-up with the FinTech license

• Note: The episode was recorded prior to pandemic lockdowns in Europe