Visa has announced the rollout of its Visa Instalment Credential (VIC), a dedicated credential for Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products in Japan. VIC is a new product developed by Visa for card issuers to enable more flexible instalment/deferred payment options at Visa-affiliated stores around the world.

Card issuers can use VIC to more easily provide payment options such as interest-free instalment payments to their customers. This is the first time this BNPL credential will be rolled out in Japan. At the same time, Visa will also launch ‘VIC in a Box,’ a support programme for fintech businesses considering providing BNPL payment services using the credential.

‘VIC in a Box’ is a framework designed to help fintech businesses launch payment services by connecting them with participating companies and facilitating faster product launches through collaboration. Adapting to an increase in BNPL use The demand for BNPL has been increasing worldwide among consumers and affiliated stores. In Japan, interest-free instalment/deferred payments are becoming more and more popular when paying for high-priced products, especially among younger consumers.

‘VIC in a Box’ programme partners Visa launched ‘VIC in a Box’ to support fintech companies considering providing BNPL services through VIC, and announced that three firms, namely Episode Six, Orient Corporation, and LifeCard, have already joined the programme as partners. Through ‘VIC in a Box’, fintech businesses can receive support for connecting to VisaNet and processing from the three participating programme partners, enabling them to start providing BNPL services. .