“Financial services must continue to evolve to reflect the way people live, work, travel and do business…”

Christian Mbonampeka, Country Manager Indian Ocean Islands and Djibouti, VISA

Speaking at Absa Mauritius’ Head Office in Ebene on Wednesday 18 March, Christian Mbonampeka, Country Manager for the Indian Ocean Islands and Djibouti at Visa, said that the launch of Absa’s new solution marked an important step in Mauritius’ digital payments drive. Addressing Absa’s leadership, partners, media and other stakeholders, he argued that the initiative responds to the way consumers in a highly globalised economy now shop, travel, subscribe and do business, while also reflecting a wider effort by Visa and Absa Mauritius to build a more secure, transparent and future-ready payments ecosystem.

Christian Mbonampeka, Country Manager for the Indian Ocean Islands and Djibouti at Visa, used his address at the launch of Absa Mauritius’ new payment solution, last Wednesday, to set out a broader case for why payment systems in Mauritius must evolve alongside changing consumer behaviour and digital business models.

Describing the launch as “an important milestone in the country’s digital payment drive,” he explained that it comes at a time when financial services are under pressure to adapt to an increasingly connected world. “Today is about how financial services must continue to evolve to reflect the way people live, people work, travel and do business in an increasingly connected digital world,” he argued. 

 

“Tokenization will be the foundation of most things today.”

 

His speech focused less on the technical features of the product itself than on the wider context in which it is being introduced. Mauritius, he said, is a “highly globalized economy,” where consumers shop online across borders, travel frequently, manage international subscriptions and participate actively in the global digital economy. Yet, for many customers, those activities still come with “complexity, cost, and inconvenience.”

That, he suggested, is why the product matters. “At Visa, we believe that payment should be simple, secure, and seamlessly embedded in everyday life,” he said. The solution being launched, he added, is meant to make that principle tangible by allowing customers to access their funds “in the way they need those funds and in the way they want to access them.”

By enabling customers to transact according to their needs and preferences, he said, the solution should reduce “unnecessary inconvenience” and bring more transparency to spending across a range of use cases. For the Country Manager, the launch is therefore not only about adding another payment product to the market, but about adapting payment infrastructure to the realities of a more digital, mobile and international economy.

In Absa Mauritius’ new payment solution, he sees evidence of the bank’s strategic positioning on that front. “What Absa is about to launch today reflects a clear understanding of this shift and the strong willingness to lead with innovation that is both practical and customer-centric,” he said.

A substantial part of Christian Mbonampeka’s intervention was devoted to the partnership between Visa and Absa Mauritius, which he described as being built on “shared ambition”. The launch, he argued, should also be seen as “a celebration of the long-standing and evolving partnership between Visa and Absa Mauritius,” adding that “our collaboration goes beyond a single product launch.”

“Innovation, when done right, strengthens trust rather than compromises it.”

Over the years, Christian Mbonampeka noted, Visa and Absa Mauritius have worked together to introduce solutions that have expanded customer choice, enhanced security and modernised the way payments work in the local market. Each of those solutions may have responded to a different customer moment and a different customer need, he said, but collectively, they reflect a common goal: building a payments ecosystem that is “digital by design, customer centric and future ready.”

That emphasis on future-readiness was, in his remarks, tied to the pace of technological change. In payments, he implied, solutions cannot be designed only for immediate use cases, since technology continues to evolve rapidly. What matters is building systems and partnerships capable of adjusting as new demands emerge.

Christian Mbonampeka broadened the discussion further by placing the Absa-Visa relationship within Visa’s larger commitment to Mauritius’ payments ecosystem. He explained that the company’s engagement goes beyond products and infrastructure and includes regular interaction with the Bank of Mauritius to ensure that regulators are comfortable with the payment solutions being introduced into the market.

He added that Visa has also been actively engaging banks, fintechs, merchants and other industry stakeholders in Mauritius through what he described as practical initiatives aimed at building understanding and capability around emerging payment technologies. These efforts, he said, have included interactive activations and demonstrations focused on tokenisation.

“Tokenization will be the foundation of most things today,” he said.

According to the Country Manager, Visa has worked to help partners and clients understand both the sensitivity and the importance of tokenisation, in particular the replacement of sensitive card details with secure digital credentials. That shift, he said, is intended to enhance security, reduce fraud and support the next generation of digital payment experiences.

He also referred to payments and risk workshops organised by Visa as part of this ecosystem-building effort. These workshops, he said, are particularly important when digital solutions are being deployed. Significantly, he noted, “we invited all industry players. We went beyond our traditional clients.”

As an example, he recalled a workshop on business payments held in June last year, during which banks were asked to bring their own customers and clients so that the event could serve as a forum for exchange. These engagements, he said, are “deliberately practical and collaborative,” and grounded in “real-world use cases and local market realities.” In his view, payment progress happens fastest “when ecosystems learn, align, and move forward together.

For Visa, he added, this kind of engagement is just as important as launching new products, because innovation must be understood, trusted and implemented responsibly.

That emphasis on trust formed another central pillar of his address. “As payments become more digital and more global, trust becomes even more essential,” he said. Security and trust, he added, are “at the core of everything we do.”

Every transaction made using digitised credentials on Visa’s global network connects customers to millions of merchants worldwide and benefits from advanced security, monitoring and built-in resilience. Secure credentials, he explained, are particularly well suited to a number of new use cases emerging in digital commerce.

The broader point, for Christian Mbonampeka, was that innovation should not erode confidence in payments systems. “Innovation, when done right, strengthens trust rather than compromises it,” he said, presenting the Absa launch as a practical example of that principle.

He also linked the launch to wider economic implications. Visa’s excitement about the event, he said, was not limited to what it means for individual customers. It also extended to what it represents for the broader digital economy in Mauritius. When consumers can transact with confidence, he argued, cross-border business stands to benefit. When payments become simpler, entrepreneurship can accelerate. And when digital tools become more accessible, participation in the global economy can expand.

In that context, he credited Absa Mauritius with consistently demonstrating leadership, both through digital payments innovation and through initiatives that support financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. “Visa is proud to work with partners that see digital payments not merely as a transaction but also as an enabler of economic growth, inclusion and opportunity,” Christian Mbonampeka said.

For the Country Manager, the launch should be seen as an important milestone, but “not a destination”. The future of payments in Mauritius, he argued, will be shaped by greater personalisation and control for customers, more seamless cross-border experiences, deeper integration of payments into digital lifestyles, and continuing collaboration between banks, fintechs, regulators and global networks.

Visa, he stressed, remains fully committed to working closely with Absa Mauritius to explore new use cases, new technologies and new ways to make payments work better for everyone. “Because when strong local institutions and trusted global networks come together, the impact stands far beyond any single innovation,” he said.