The partnership extension between ICBA Payments and Visa underscores a mutual drive to strengthen community banks by equipping them with modern, secure, and scalable payment technologies.
ICBA Payments, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), and Visa announced the renewal of their strategic partnership — an alliance that officially reached a term of 40 years.
In the framework of extended cooperation, ICBA Payments will continue sponsoring Visa-powered contactless cards, tokenization, and digital wallet integrations. These are crucial tools today as consumer expectations evolve toward instantaneous, mobile-first transactions. In addition, the partnership expansion will allow community banks access to Visa Direct, enabling real-time money movement and empowering faster transfers for individuals, small businesses, and commercial customers.
The agreement also means that Visa continues to support ICBA cardholder communications and marketing campaigns and provide operational assistance to its member community banks, ensuring that these financial institutions can implement and manage the card programs efficiently.
This renewal comes as community banks grapple with mounting pressure from both fintech startups and major financial institutions. While representing about 90% of all U.S. banks, they hold just 11% of FDIC-insured assets, highlighting a structural disadvantage in access to cutting-edge financial tech.
Partnerships like this enable smaller banks to remain competitive by offering services that would be difficult to develop in-house. Besides, nearly 80% of ICBA-member banks rely on Visa’s network, which reflects the depth of the partnership.
ICBA Payments ranks as the 10th largest debit card issuer and 29th largest credit card issuer in the U.S., supporting over 10 million issued cards with $43 billion in combined card sales. Founded in 1985, ICBA Payments was created to help local banks pool resources to obtain favorable pricing and access to payments infrastructure.
Visa became a principal ICBA member early on, empowering community banks with branded card programs and network reach. Over decades, the partnership has evolved from traditional card issuance to cutting-edge solutions like tokenization and real-time payments, tracking broader tech trends in consumer and business preferences.
The banking organization has also recently partnered with Mastercard to bring new features to community bank services, modernize card programs and enhance customer experiences.
