Visa unveils new payments solutions
Visa today announced the next generation of payments solutions that include a secure cross-channel digital wallet and a range of customized mobile payments services.
The digital wallet will store Visa and non-Visa payments accounts, support NFC payments through the Visa payWave application and deliver a wide range of transaction services to accommodate multiple commerce scenarios – including eCommerce, mobile commerce, micropayments, social networks and person-to-person payments.
Visa is working with payments card issuers, community banks, credit unions, acquirers, payments processors and merchants to launch the digital wallet. Among the financial institutions and organizations supporting Visa’s wallet strategy are:
- Barclaycard US
- BB&T Corporation
- Card Services for Credit Unions (CSCU)
- ICBA Bancard
- First Financial Bank of Ohio
- Nordstrom fsb
- Pentagon Federal Credit Union
- PNC Bank
- PSCU Financial Services
- Regions Bank
- Royal Bank of Canada
- Scotiabank
- TD Bank Group (US and Canada)
- US Bank.
Visa expects to launch the digital wallet in the U.S. and Canada in fall 2011.
Key features of the wallet are will include:
Click-to-buy: Shop securely by entering an email address, alias or online ID and password, instead of a billing address, account number and expiration date. In addition, Visa is exploring dynamic authentication technologies that will bring added layers of security to online purchases.
Cross-channel payments solution: The wallet consolidates multiple Visa and non-Visa payments accounts and can be used in mobile, eCommerce, social network and retail point-of-sale environments.
Preference management: A menu that enables consumers to set preferences for how their wallet will work, allowing them to customize and control the features of their personal wallet from privacy settings to designating which account will be accessed based on merchant type or purchase amount.
Merchant offers: A service that allows consumers to personalize their shopping experience by opting-in to receive money-saving discounts or promotions from participating merchants.
In countries like India and Russia, where card issuance and mobile subscriptions are high, but card usage is relatively low, Visa will help drive account activation and usage by working with financial institutions and mobile operators to link existing card portfolios with mobile devices to give handsets payments functionality.
In countries within Africa and the Middle East where mobile device usage is high and traditional electronic payments infrastructure is less developed, Visa will work with mobile network operators to link new virtual mobile prepaid Visa accounts to mobile phone numbers to enable cash-in, cash-out, personal payments and mobile payments —including bill payments and wireless airtime top-up. Visa also intends to connect existing “closed loop” mobile money services that today provide basic mobile banking and payments services to unbanked and under-banked consumers to its global, open loop network—VisaNet. The integration will open closed loop systems, and provide consumers and merchants with unprecedented scale, functionality and acceptance beyond their existing local geographic footprints.