How O3 Capital’s BL!NK card is building a global bridge to local payments
Despite all the progress made in Nigeria's financial services sector...
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Despite all the progress made in Nigeria’s financial services sector over the last two decades,many of the transactions conducted within the country remain dependent on cash — from transportation to shopping. <br />
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For the Nigerian returning for the holidays, the expat relocating for work, or the digital nomad exploring Lagos, this presents some issues. The traditional options, such as attempting to get cash from bureau de change (BDC) operators or carrying bulky envelopes of cash, are a sharp contrast to the digital-first experience they are often used to. <br />
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This is the gap that BL!NK is designed to bridge. Rather than navigating the uncertainty of the parallel market or waiting days for international bank transfers to clear, BL!NK provides visitors to the country with a travel card that offers instant access to naira the moment they touch down. No long queues, phone calls to relatives and friends, or haggling over parallel market rates. <br />
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Explaining the motivation behind the creation of the BL!NK Card, Abimbola Pinheiro, CEO of 03 Capital, noted that the 2024 Detty December period revealed that accessing naira after arriving in the country was a major challenge for foreign travellers hence the decision to create a card that catered to this group. <br />
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“BL!NK was created to remove the stress of foreign exchange, eliminate the difficulty of spending like a local, and ensure seamless merchant acceptance without concerns around chargebacks, disputes, or settlement,” he said. <br />
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Powered by world-class infrastructure <br />
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A product of O3 Capital, Nigeria’s first non-bank credit card issuer, the BL!NK card is powered by world-class financial infrastructure. As Nigeria’s first non-bank credit card issuer with over a decade of experience, O3 Capital provides the institutional muscle required to connect to local payment rails in real time. <br />
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A partnership with local card scheme Verve ensures users have access to a card that can be used at over 40 million merchants and ATMs nationwide, e...
