Spanish vertical fintech Bueno is launching Visa debit cards for its foreign property owner customers through a partnership with Sefide, a Spanish electronic money institution owned by Loomis Group (Bueno). The card launch expands Bueno's existing Spanish IBAN accounts and direct debit services, giving customers who travel to their second homes in Spain or live there permanently access to physical and virtual payment cards.
Bueno serves foreign property owners in Spain with a banking and property management platform. Customers can open a Spanish IBAN account in 10 minutes online, manage direct debits for utilities and taxes, access multilingual customer service, and now receive Visa cards for everyday spending. The platform targets expatriates and second-home owners who face language barriers, regulatory complexity, and difficulties accessing traditional Spanish banks. The company has been live since 2022 and currently operates as a property-centric niche fintech rather than a pure embedded finance play.
The Spanish Property Fintech Landscape
Spain's property market has created space for two distinct fintech approaches. Aareon Spain launched TucoBan, a banking product embedded within its property management ERP software for homeowner associations and property administrators (which I covered last year). That's embedded finance: a non-financial company adding banking to its core SaaS offering.
Bueno takes a different path. The company started as a fintech and built property management tools around its core banking offering. They're a vertical fintech serving individual property owners rather than a proptech company embedding finance. The distinction matters because it reveals different go-to-market strategies and infrastructure needs in the same market segment.
Why Add Cards Now?
Bueno has operated for over two years with Spanish IBAN accounts and direct debit functionality, which handles most property-related expenses. Adding cards signals a push toward becoming a more complete banking alternative rather than just a utility payment account. Cards enable everyday spending for customers who split time between Spain and other countries, reducing friction when they're physically in Spain.
The card launch also positions Bueno more competitively against traditional Spanish banks and other neobanks. An IBAN account without a card remains a partial solution. Cards create stickiness through daily use and generate interchange revenue that can fund customer acquisition and service expansion.
Sefide as Infrastructure Partner
Sefide operates as a Spanish EMI regulated by Banco de España and owned by Loomis Group, the Swedish cash logistics company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Sefide provides Bueno with the complete regulated infrastructure, from IBAN accounts to card issuance, through their Banking-as-a-Service model. As a principal member of Visa, Sefide handles card issuance, transaction processing, and regulatory compliance, allowing Bueno to focus on customer experience and property-specific features.
This is the first time I've come across Sefide in a partnership announcement, despite their API-driven approach to providing financial infrastructure for third parties. For Loomis, owning a Spanish EMI with BaaS capabilities represents a strategic move beyond their traditional cash logistics business. The Bueno partnership demonstrates Sefide's ability to support vertical fintech clients looking for licensed infrastructure in Spain.
