“Can a Peru-born TechFin become Latin America's first true cross-border neobank by owning its Visa rails directly?”
B89 was founded in 2019 in Lima as a tech-first neobank targeting cross-border financial needs in Latin America. Its strategic milestone was becoming the first Peruvian fintech accepted as a Principal Member of Visa, allowing it to issue cards directly rather than via a sponsor issuer. The 2024 MeaWallet partnership extends this card stack into push provisioning and tokenization for mobile wallets.
B89 discloses B89 (in-house, Visa Principal Member) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
B89 does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through B89 (in-house, Visa Principal Member).
B89's cards are issued through B89 (in-house, Visa Principal Member).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in B89's stack: Banking / BaaS (B89 (in-house, Visa Principal Member)); Card issuing (B89 (in-house, Visa Principal Member)).
B89 is founded in 2019 and headquartered in Lima, Peru.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against B89 and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.