Visa’s V.me payment service to hit UK, France and Spain in the autumn

Hot on the heels of O2’s announcement about their digital wallet and Barclays Pingit payment service (which incidentally now has a its very own TV ad – seen it?), Visa has announced that its V.me payment service will launch in the UK, France and Spain in the autumn, adding to the slew of new mobile payment options set to arrive by the year's end.

Visa said its V.me service will allow users to store their card details in their digital wallet, allowing them to make online and in-store payments from their phone using NFC technology.

Visa will offer the service through its banking partners and can be accessed from a PC, tablet or smartphone via a browser.

Additionally, WorldPay has been announced as Visa's key development partner in the delivery of the V.me service in the UK.

The service will also be compatible with non-Visa cards such as MasterCard, American Express and Discover.

In November 2011, Visa confirmed that they were offering an alternative payment service to other services on the market such as PayPal and Google Wallet.

The battle of the brands commences……

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O2 becomes latest company to launch a digital wallet

Hot on the heels of Barclay’s Pingit and Barclaycard’s Paytag, O2 has become the latest company in the UK to offer a digital wallet.

The product allows a number of functions, including:

·         Money Message – enabling  daily transfers of between £1 and £500 to any UK mobile phone number

·         Shopping via your mobile – A  barcode and search engine function compares the prices of millions of branded goods from more than 100 online retailers

·         Your phone as your wallet – O2 Wallet enables consumers to digitise their existing debit and credit cards making paying for goods or services via their mobile a reality. Customers can load money into their O2 Wallet account via one of their debit cards, by receiving a Money Message or with cash at more than 30,000 locations including O2 stores, PayPoint and epay retail outlets. O2 Wallet’s ‘transaction history’ will allow consumers to keep on top of their expenditure with text alerts when the account balance changes; a 30-day payment history on the app; and a 12-month history online

·         O2 Money Account Card – O2 Wallet offers both a physical and a virtual O2 Money Account Card. Both are based on a Visa prepaid account. Consumers can also apply for the physical O2 Money Visa Account Card, a contactless card  to pay for things on the high street or withdraw cash from ATMs available for use at more than 100,000 contactless payment points across the UK

James Le Brocq, Managing Director at O2 Money, said O2 believes that the new product “will transform the way people manage their finances and spend money.”

But in reality, how long will this “transformation” take ? And who is the demographic it will appeal to the most? How long before it trickles down to the late adopters?   

Additional functionality will soon enable consumers to use O2 Wallet to top-up mobile airtime, and buy train tickets.

O2 Wallet is compatible with the majority of smartphones as well as iPads. Even those without a smartphone can use various features of O2 Wallet – for example Money Messages – providing they have web browsing capability on their handsets.

It will be interesting to see the take up of the O2 Wallet. The proportion of people using mobile banking increased from 9.7% in 2010 to 20.4% in 2011. It is predicted that shopping on mobile devices is set to increase by 53% in the next 12 months hitting £4.5bn and making Brits the biggest mobile shoppers in Europe.

How long before digital wallets and mobile payments trickle down to the late adopters ?

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Visa executive states Mobile won't kill card payments in emerging markets

According to Elizabeth Buse, Visa’s group president for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Visa Inc. still sees a future in payment with plastic, even in the emerging markets where it is aggressively seeking to reach unbanked consumers through new mobile payment platforms. Despite the anticipated ubiquity of a range of mobile payment systems in emerging markets, such as Indonesia and India, the growth of the middle class in these countries means credit cards will still be sought by consumers. "In those markets, you will have people who want feature-rich credit products, typically with a card--those are the people that travel a lot, who do traditional shopping online and who tend to be at the top of the pyramid," stated Buse in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. “Then you will have the people from the rural areas, who today are excluded from financial services, who will likely have mobile as their only way and then you'll have some hybrid in between. You already see some of that in India today." Visa Inc. which publicly listed in the U.S. in March 2008, is holding its first board meeting outside the U.S. in Singapore on the 25th April and 26th April. Singapore is Visa's largest location outside the U.S., employing more than 900 of the company's 8,000-strong global staff base. It is also close to the rapidly growing emerging markets Visa is keen to penetrate such as Indonesia. "There's a ton of cash here (Asia)--the way that we go after it would be different to the way we'd go after it in the U.S. or even Australia and that's where innovation comes in," Buse said. "And it's critically important over here because a lot of that cash is spent by people who don't have access to traditional banking system so they're unbanked to underbanked." Visa is close to achieving its goal of deriving 50% of its revenue from outside its home U.S. market by 2015 ahead of schedule; in the fourth quarter of last year, non-U.S. markets accounted for 46% of revenue. The group last year also acquired Fundamo--a South African mobile payments facility which operates in 40 countries, mostly in Africa--for US$110 million, a company it plans to use to deploy mobile payment systems throughout emerging markets. Fundamo has partnered with a microfinance wholesale bank, Bank Andara, in Indonesia and is in the process of rolling out a mobile payment system in the country using pre-paid Visa accounts. Buse says this programme is targeted at customers outside the major branch networks of Indonesia's banking system, predominantly people in the "bottom half" of the wealth pyramid. "Mobile, we believe, will be the way that electronic payments are brought to the majority of these populations," she said. "The rate of adoption though remains to be seen but we do think there will be a leapfrog in a number of these markets where the traditional infrastructure won't be there."

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US card processor hit by 'massive' breach

Visa and MasterCard are warning banks that a US credit card processor has suffered a major security breach that may have compromised the data of millions of people, according to the KrebsonSecurity blog.

Citing sources, the well-connected blog says the breach - which happened between 21 January and 25 February - is being called "massive", potentially involving more than 10 million cards.

In alerts to banks, Visa and MasterCard have warned that "full Track 1 and Track 2 data" has been taken, meaning counterfeits could be made using the information. The name of the processor has not been revealed.

Do you know if you have been affected ?
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Fraud levels on Visa cards continue to fall as consumers increasingly choose to pay by card

Annual figures released by Financial Fraud UK and the UK Cards Association show that for the third year in a row, card fraud losses continue to decline and fraud levels are at their lowest since 2000. Visa Europe’s fraud to sales ratio is even lower than the industry average: for every hundred pounds spent on a Visa card in the UK, less than five pence is lost to fraud.

Peter Bayley, Senior Vice President, Fraud Management, Visa Europe, says: "Today’s official figures are great news for consumers who can be assured that paying by card is safer than ever. With one in every three pounds in the UK now spent on a Visa card, Visa Europe is building upon our anti-fraud expertise as we push forward and shape the future of payments. We are developing advances in technology that will make payments easier and more convenient through contactless and mobile payments, while still maintaining the high standards of security that consumers expect.
“Consumers have been changing the ways in which they choose to pay; as they have done so, we have responded by implementing new layers of security– such as Verified by Visa (VbV) – to ensure that we stay one step ahead of the fraudsters. The future of payment technology is really exciting and our challenge is to make sure card users feel as safe as possible whichever way they choose to pay.
“Since the UK fully transitioned to Chip and PIN six years ago, we’ve seen fraud rates plummet and ongoing investment in new security technology by the banking industry really pay off. Overall fraud losses on UK Visa cards were down 2% in the year ending September 2011, while counterfeit fraud was down by a massive 31%. These data show how Visa Europe’s active commitment to safe, secure, and convenient card payments is continuing to pay dividends for both consumers and retailers.
“Fraud cases involving Visa cards across the whole European region continue to fall and the fraud to sales ratio is now just 0.04%.”

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LATEST VISA EUROPE FRAUD ROLES ON WWW.CARDANDPAYMENTJOBS.COM

Go to www.cardandpaymentjobs.com for the latest fraud roles from Visa Europe.
Fraud Prevention Specialist, Fraud Prevention Senior Manager and Fraud Sales & MI Executive needed for Visa's Paddington office.
Go to www.cardandpaymentjobs.com for more information and how to apply.
Good luck with your search

Lead software tester needed - Visa Europe - Reading based

Software Tester (Lead Tester) required with card payments system test experience.

Visa is seeking a Lead Software Tester with demonstrable experience of managing multiple test projects in a software/systems based environment. Experience of a card payments domain/environment is essential for this role. The role will interface with developers and business analysts in designing, documenting and executing manual tests using a variety of automated tools. Experience/exposure to Quality Center and possession of ISEB foundation certification would be highly desirable. This is an exciting/challenging Lead Tester position within an environment with multiple career paths on offer.

Visa Europe is a membership association - an organisation owned and operated by its 4,500 European member banks. In October 2007, Visa Europe became independent of the new global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence in Europe. As a dedicated European payment system it is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers - cardholders and retailers, and to meet the European Commission's objective to create a true internal market for payments. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/Plus is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 170 countries.

To apply for this role go to http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com/