Visa has succeeded over the last 12 months, together with its partners, in doubling mobile payment services in many European countries.
Building on the ability of consumers to make payments and manage their money wherever they are, through any device, Visa has partnered with major telecommunications and payments companies to offer secure services to consumers.
Important milestones of the last 12 months include the following:
• The largest commercially available mobile contactless payment service in Europe launched in Spain with the collaboration of Caixabank, Vodafone, Orange and Telefonica
• The successful launch of the Vodafone SmartPass mobile payment application – the first service included in mWallet – in Spain and Germany, with the UK and the Netherlands planning the corresponding launch for Spring 2014
• Launch of Orange Cash with Visa in France, aiming to make mobile contactless payments available to Orange subscribers
• Millions of credit card users in Turkey gained access to NFC payments, as a result of Visa Europe’s collaboration with Garanti Bank and Turkcell
• A new partnership with Telecom Italia is expected in 2014, which will lead to the launch of exciting new mobile payment services in the Italian market
• 100% increase in the number of merchants offering Chip & PIN mPOS, with the total number reaching amounts to 30,000 in 18 markets
To make these services available, Visa is working with mobile operators, banks, merchants, hardware manufacturers and software providers, aiming to increase mobile payment services around the world.
Mary Carol Harris, Director – Mobile, Visa Europe, said: “Today, European consumers have access to a wide range of mobile services. We have worked with many partners to double the availability of mobile payments services in Europe. These services are already gaining traction in the UK, such as Visa Personal Payments, which has 2.7 million active users at RBS. Mobile payments cannot be delivered by one company alone. The key is to create the technology, but also to be able to implement it. We are at the centre of an ecosystem that enables our partners to make mobile payments a reality.”.
Christian Wirtz, Vodafone Group mCommerce Director, said: “We have successfully launched the Vodafone Smartpass mobile payment app, the first to be integrated into mWallet, in Germany and Spain and are expected to launch in the UK and the Netherlands in the spring. We are particularly pleased with the growing adoption of mobile payments in Europe and our partnership with Visa to bring mobile payment services into the hands of our customers.”.
The use of contactless cards and the corresponding acceptance infrastructure have expanded, creating the right environment for the transition to contactless mobile payments. Visa contactless payments are now available in twice as many European countries as in the same period last year, with almost 80 million cards and 1.3 million terminals in circulation. At the same time, the number of merchants accepting contactless transactions continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Source: kathimerini.gr
