Visa Launches Intelligent Authorization in Kenya to Boost Payment Efficiency and Innovation

Walter Lironi, Head of Value-Added Services for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) at Visa speaking at the event.

Nairobi, Kenya, March 26, 2026 — Visa Inc. has rolled out its Visa Intelligent Authorization  ( VIA) solution in Kenya, marking a significant step toward modernizing payment processing for acquirers and unlocking new opportunities in the country’s rapidly evolving digital commerce landscape.

The solution, introduced during the Visa Connect Kenya forum, is part of the Visa Acceptance Platform and enables banks and other financial institutions to process payments across multiple global and local card networks through a single API. By streamlining authorization processes, the platform eliminates the need for costly and time-consuming infrastructure upgrades, allowing acquirers to focus on innovation and expanding payment experiences.

Authorization plays a central role in digital payments, enabling real-time communication between acquirers, card networks, and issuing banks to approve or decline transactions within seconds. However, many legacy systems struggle to meet the demands of modern commerce, often resulting in lower approval rates, higher operational costs, and increased complexity in compliance and expansion.

Visa Intelligent Authorization addresses these challenges by offering a highly resilient and efficient processing capability, delivering 99.999% uptime and a global average approval rate of 96.3%. The solution can serve as a primary authorization processor or complement existing systems, strengthening business continuity and enhancing operational resilience.

According to Walter Lironi, Head of Value-Added Services for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) at Visa stated that the pace of change in global commerce requires infrastructure that can keep up with growing demands. He noted that many transactions still rely on outdated systems, and the new solution provides a future-ready approach by enabling seamless processing across networks through a unified integration.

Beyond improving transaction approval rates, the platform offers real-time insights and payment updates that help acquirers manage risk more effectively, reduce friction across the payment lifecycle, and accelerate processes such as settlement.

With the rollout in Kenya, Visa aims to provide eligible acquirers with a scalable and flexible foundation for modern payment processing, supporting continued innovation and growth in the country’s digital payments ecosystem.

To learn more, visit Visa.com.