Multi-Currency and Immediate Payments functions launch for Visa Personal Payments
Visa Europe has announced two significant additions to its Visa Personal Payments mobile service, Multi-Currency and Immediate Payments. The new functions will enable consumers to make instant transactions from their mobile phone to any Visa cardholder in Europe, in any European currency.
The Multi-Currency feature, which will be available by the end of 2013, allows payments to be sent and received across borders, bringing international money transfers to mobile devices and simplifying what can often be a complex and expensive process for those wishing to send money to an individual in another European country.
Immediate Payments, launching in the UK this week with other markets to follow later in the year, makes it possible for consumers to receive money sent via Visa Personal Payments in 30 minutes.
The Visa Personal Payments system now has 17 live and committed issuers across Europe. RBS and NatWest were the first in the UK to launch the service via their mobile banking app last month, which was downloaded by 1.7 million consumers in its first two weeks.
Sandra Alzetta, senior vice president, Visa Europe, said: 'Mobile payments have the potential to fundamentally change the way that people pay and are paid. The new Multi-Currency and Immediate Payments features combine the convenience of mobile device use with the ability to send money to 460 million Visa cardholders across Europe, solving a problem that millions of consumers face every day, giving money to another individual easily and securely.'
Visa Personal Payments is a P2P payments service that enables anyone with a Visa credit, debit or reloadable prepaid card to accept payments from another Visa card without needing to share any account details.
Senders simply need to be registered for the Visa Personal Payments service and to know either the mobile phone number or Visa card number of the person they are sending a payment to. Payments are then initiated using a smartphone app offered by the sender's bank. To collect money, consumers don't need to be signed up for the service; they just need a Visa card, access to the internet and to submit a few basic details.
Monitise chief executive, Alastair Lukies, commented on the announcement: 'Being able to send money instantly, securely and easily to a friend, family member, colleague or another individual is so important for consumers and these new services deliver that capability with the tap of a finger.'
Lukies added: 'We are delighted with the interest being shown by Visa Europe member banks for these new innovations that are transforming the way consumers manage their money. Visa is quite simply the most trusted way to pay.'
Monitise has been working in partnership with Visa Europe since February 2011 to deploy mobile payments services to its member banks and financial institutions. There are more than 460 million Visa accounts in Europe and the payments processor predicts that by 2020 more than half of its transactions will be carried out on a mobile device.
