Visa Certifies Smartphones for Use as Visa Mobile Payment Devices

NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research In Motion approved for use with Visa payWave, Visa's mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10, 2012 /CNW/ - Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Visa Europe today announced that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Research In Motion (RIM) have been certified for use with Visa's mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale, Visa payWave. The Samsung Galaxy SII, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 have been added to the list of Visa compliant payment products available for commercial deployment by financial institutions.

All the new devices certified by Visa host the Visa payWave application on a secure SIM card and feature NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, the short range communications standard that enables mobile phones to securely transmit payment information to a contactless payment terminal.

"This is an important step for Visa, its financial institution partners and the mobile industry," said Bill Gajda, Global Head of Mobile Product, Visa Inc. "In addition to issuing plastic magnetic stripe or chip-enabled payment cards, financial institutions can now consider offering their accountholders a way to transform their smartphones into fully functional mobile payment devices." 

Visa's certification of these smartphones paves the way for mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators and retailers to partner with financial institutions to offer Visa mobile payment functionality to consumers globally.

Visa's Certification Process

Visa has played a leadership role in establishing global standards for mobile payments, making sure that they are aligned with existing technology and security standards for chip payment cards and can easily be integrated into the existing payments ecosystem. For example: Visa payWave on mobile devices is compatible with existing contactless (NFC) payment terminals already installed at retail outlets worldwide, enabling Visa accountholders to simply wave their enabled phone in front of a payment terminal in order to pay. Visa has a compliance testing process for both mobile devices and the secure elements that host the Visa payWave mobile application. The process includes extensive technical and usability testing with respect to the Visa mobile payment functionality. This helps to ensure reliable and secure Visa transactions which are compatible with the global standard for chip-enabled payments, and establishes a required signal range for all mobile (NFC-enabled) Visa payment devices. Visa's compliance testing process helps to ensure the combination of the phone; secure chip and Visa's mobile payment application will provide the level of security and user experience Visa accountholders have come to expect from Visa.

"Today's announcement is another example of the momentum we are seeing behind NFC as an industry standard for mobile payments," said Nick Holland, senior analyst Yankee Group. "Yankee Group predicts that the value of NFC-based transactions will grow significantly, from $27 million in 2010 to $40 billion in 2014."

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About Visa Inc.:

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About Visa Europe:

In Europe, there are 438 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending June 2011 those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of €1.7 trillion. 12.5% of consumer spending at point of sale in Europe is with a Visa card, and more than 70% of that is on Visa debit cards.

There are around 30 million contactless Visa cards across Europe, distributed by 54 different issuing banks, with over 175,000 contactless terminals. By the end of 2012 there are expected to be more than 50 million contactless Visa cards in circulation across Europe.

Visa Europe is owned and operated by more than 4,000 European member banks and was incorporated in July 2004. Visa Europe is independent of global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence in Europe, while both companies operate to ensure global interoperability. As a dedicated European payment system Visa Europe 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.

For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com

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