Amazon and Santander Launch Visa Card in Germany

Amazon teamed with Santander to launch a new Amazon Visa card in Germany.

The card lets users earn rewards while shopping on and off Amazon’s Germany website, according to a Monday (Aug. 12) press release. Rewards are redeemable from Amazon.

“Cardholders can pay for their purchases quickly, intuitively and securely through Zinia, Santander’s consumer finance platform, and they are able to choose between full and revolving payments anytime,” the release said.

The announcement comes weeks after reports that Amazon and Santander were at work on a deal in which the Spanish bank would provide financing options for Amazon customers across the European Union, starting in Germany.

Santander said its goal is to expand its digital consumer finance business by signing deals with global tech companies, allowing customers to access loans to finance their purchases at checkout.

Santander also announced that Zinia had become the provider of consumer finance services for Apple in Germany, both in physical stores and at apple.de.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “How Nonfinancial Brands Can Benefit From Offering Embedded Financial Services” found that embedded finance benefits consumers and businesses by opening more avenues for customers to interact with their favorite brands. Eighty-eight percent of companies offering embedded finance said it helped improve consumer engagement.

In addition, the report found that 32% of consumers said they spent more with a nonfinancial brand after receiving a financial product from that brand.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS spoke in June with Dan Iwachiw, head of product for Visa Canada, following the company’s launch of an installment payments collaboration with Amazon.

“There’s no better partner to drive for us the adoption and scalability of Visa’s installment solution than working with someone like Amazon,” Iwachiw said at the time. “We’re thrilled to build on our partnership with them and have Canada to be a first stop of this new journey. It’s a natural extension of our overall relationship and one that we’re looking to further build on and grow.”

Installment plans are gaining momentum in Canada. Visa research found that nearly 6 in 10 Canadian consumers are interested in using installments. The company also forecasted that by 2026, installments would account for nearly 25% of all global eCommerce transactions.