Visa Launches V.me in Four European Countries
V.me by Visa, promoted as the first pan-European digital wallet service to be offered by banks and financial institutions (FIs), has been launched in the UK, France, Spain and Poland.
The UK’s Nationwide Building Society is joined by leading issuers France’s Groupe BPCE and LCL, with ING Bank Slaski in pilot in Poland and multiple pilots also underway in Spain. Visa said other major issuers will launch soon in all four markets as the service enters the first stage of its pan-European launch.
Offering simple, secure online payments, V.me by Visa aims to increase consumer confidence in online shopping and reduce the proportion of sales that are abandoned during the checkout process. UK cardholders can sign up to participate in the launch. In other markets the service is currently being offered to a select group of consumers, with wider availability to follow in the coming months.
By January 2014, up to 4,000 merchants will accept V.me by Visa thanks via strategic partnerships with services suppliers in the payment industry, including WorldPay in the UK, Be2Bill (Rentabiliweb), Lyra Networks, Monext, Paybox (Point), System Pay and Worldline (Atos subsidiary in e-payment services) in France. The V.me by Visa pilot programme for Ireland will take place in early 2014.
“V.me by Visa gives merchants and issuers an acceptance mark that will work across Europe,” said Steve Perry, chief commercial officer, Visa Europe. “Mobile phones, tablets and the use of digital payments have changed the nature of commerce: consumers want to be able to buy from the merchant of their choice via any device without sharing their card details.”