Rakuten Viber is accelerating its push into financial services with a major upgrade to Viber Pay, now powered by the embedded finance infrastructure of UK-Bulgarian fintech company Paynetics and Visa’s global payment network. The transition marks the beginning of a seven-market rollout, as existing Viber Pay users in Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, and Germany migrate to the new system.
The upgrade comes as Viber continues to expand from a messaging platform into a broader service ecosystem. Viber Pay has already passed one million opened wallets, reflecting rising demand for instant, secure, fee-free payments directly inside widely used communication apps.
Super App Push Continues
Viber Pay enables users to send money to friends and family instantly, securely, and without fees. As part of the migration, every user will receive a Visa virtual debit card, which can be used for online shopping and day-to-day spending, managed entirely within the Viber interface.
Paynetics, the regulated e-money institution behind the service, provides the infrastructure that powers Viber Pay end-to-end. This includes issuing Visa virtual cards, enabling transfers and account management, and ensuring compliance across multiple jurisdictions. By integrating Paynetics’ infrastructure, Viber can offer financial-grade security and cross-border operability without altering the app’s core user experience.
“Our collaboration with Paynetics is an important milestone in our vision to become a super app,” says Ritesh Shah, GM of Fintech and VP of Business Solutions at Rakuten Viber. “With Paynetics’ trusted infrastructure, we can give millions of users instant, fee-free financial services embedded in the conversations they already have every day.”
“Paynetics is proud to power Viber Pay and demonstrate how embedded finance can scale across borders,” said Valeri Valtchev, CEO at Paynetics. “This launch shows the potential of European fintech: secure, compliant, and deeply integrated into platforms people use most.”
