Texas First Bank plans to launch a multicurrency deposit account and Visa debit card in partnership with Rêv Worldwide in March — and to urge other community banks to offer the same product.
Because of their size, community banks haven’t been able to offer foreign currency accounts directly to their customers, according to Texas First. Typically, they have to use correspondent banks for foreign exchange.
“Rêv gives us the opportunity to enter the FX space directly and participate in the Latino and tourist cross-border spending market,” said Chris Doyle, president and CEO of the $2.1 billion-asset Texas First, which is based in Texas City.
The bank's new account will be linked to Rêv’s X World Wallet, which can hold five currencies. The FX rates, provided by Bank of America, will compete with Visa and Mastercard rates and with multicurrency cards from fintechs such as Wise and
Rêv's X World Wallet is aimed at Americans who travel to or shop in Mexico, Canada and other countries. Although COVID-19 significantly cut into the number of U.S. tourists visiting Mexico, travel has been recovering. According to Mexico’s Washington
“Within minutes of onboarding your X World Wallet, you can load it with U.S. dollars from an external bank account and convert them into Mexican pesos, euros, [pound] sterling or Canadian dollars," Doyle said.
While Texas First will hold cardholders’ U.S. funds in FDIC-insured accounts, their foreign currencies will be held outside the U.S. The account will include a loyalty program and a travel booking portal offering discounts.
Once Texas First has launched the X World Wallet, it plans to work with Rêv, which is based in Austin, Texas, to offer the product to other U.S. community banks, Doyle said.
Founded in 2008 by brothers Roy and Bertrand Sosa, Rêv provides multicurrency prepaid cards for banks and international airlines. Before starting Rêv, the Sosa brothers founded the U.S. prepaid card pioneer NetSpend, which is now owned by Global Payments.
Roy Sosa, Rêv’s CEO, said the X World Wallet will target mobile-centric millennials, tourists and people rejecting credit cards but seeking rewards on spending plus in-app access to foreign currencies.
“We expect a minimum annual spend per U.S. X World Wallet cardholder of $30,000, with an 80/20 split between domestic and international payments,” he said. “Since it’s a debit card, we expect it to be used for everyday purchases. Our reward structure is designed to favor the use of the card for e-commerce and travel bookings.”
In addition to partnering with Rêv, Texas First has an investment in the company of an undisclosed amount. “Our parent Texas Independent Bancshares invested in Rêv to give us skin in the game,” said Doyle. “The investment made a significant contribution to the X World Wallet program.”
Texas First became involved with Rêv through a network of Texan connections.
“My father, Charles T. Doyle" — Texas First's chairman emeritus — "had been on the board of a publicly traded company alongside Rêv’s executive vice president Richard Child,” said Doyle. “When Rêv started discussing the X World Wallet, Richard said he knew a Texan banker who would be willing to sponsor the program. He spoke to my father who passed the idea to me, and I and the Sosa brothers took it from there.”
As an entrepreneur, Roy Sosa realized the Texas First connection had the potential to be more than a client.
“We knew that if we worked with [Texas First] not just as a BIN sponsor but as a strategic partner and investor in Rêv, they would help us build a suite of products to serve community banks,” he said.
Doyle expects the X World Wallet to widen Texas First's low-cost deposit base and provide interchange and FX revenues. He also sees the X World Wallet as providing new revenue streams on a banking-as-a-service basis for other community banks.
While Texas First won’t receive revenue from other community banks issuing X World Wallet accounts, it will benefit from the success of its investment in Rêv.
“Our goal is to help community banks by including them in Rêv’s program,” Doyle said. “I know a lot of community bankers through the Independent Bankers Association of Texas and the Independent Community Bankers of America, and will recommend the product to them.”
According to Sosa, the X World Wallet can help independent banks gather customer data enabling them to cross-sell higher-value financial products without significant technology investments.
Beyond its U.S. launch, Rêv plans to bring the X World Wallet to Australia, Brazil, Europe, Mexico and the Middle East through local partners.
Rêv isn’t Texas First's only fintech investment. The bank has also invested in the digital banking vendor Q2, also of Austin, and has participated in
In addition to using Q2’s technology, TFB deploys digital account opening software from
