Contactless Payment Certified for Commercial Use

Visa Inc. and Visa Europe have announced the commencement of commercial use of mobile contactless payment enabled by the In2Pay microSD solution from DeviceFidelity.

This is a significant step for VISA, which for the first time in its history is introducing mobile contactless payment to the list of Visa-compliant products that will be available for potential commercial development by financial institutions in the United States and selected markets. This business move is the result of eighteen months of technological development achieved in partnership with DeviceFidelity from Texas, and it has also undergone pilot testing with leading financial institutions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Thanks to these tests, Visa supports the commercialization of In2Pay microSD for use on leading smartphones.

“This is a historic milestone for Visa and its clients,” said Bill Gajda, who heads Visa Mobile. In addition to issuing plastic payment cards with magnetic stripes or chip payment cards, financial institutions can now offer account holders a new technology that allows them to transform their existing phones into fully functional mobile payment devices. The advantages of mobile payment through MicroSD technology have been immediately recognized by the largest financial institutions in the United States – JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo Bank, US Bancorp, and Bank of America – which participated in pilot testing of mobile payments with Visa. This service is now available to every Visa issuer, who can obtain the technology under standard Visa contractual terms and integrate the Visa mobile payment application into microSD cards.

Issuers who choose to adopt this technology can provide their account holders with tiny microSD cards that can be inserted into the existing memory of phones to enable payment through the device. The technology is compatible with existing contactless payment terminals already installed in retail locations worldwide, allowing account holders to make payments simply by holding their phone in front of the terminal. The introduction of mobile payment opens numerous business opportunities for mobile operators, retailers, and other participants in the payment system, providing them the opportunity to partner with financial institutions and thus offer Visa mobile payment functionality to consumers. Nick Holland, Senior Analyst at Yankee Group, emphasizes that this business move by Visa “clearly shows that the future of payments will be mobile,” adding: “This is a significant step towards a new generation of payments, loyalty, and rewards, as it enables banks and retailers to build entirely new business models.”

Financial institutions have the option to integrate Visa’s mobile payment solution into existing mobile applications and offer traditional services such as Visa transaction alerts that notify account holders in almost real-time about account activity, as well as targeted merchant offers tailored to the lifestyle and location of the user. All of these services can further enhance the payment experience and enable account holders to better manage their accounts.