Visa payWave speeds up every day payments in Canada

Contactless acceptance continues to grow with diverse merchants offering the convenience, speed and security of Visa payWave

TORONTO, May 26 /CNW/ - Visa Canada announced today its continued progress in driving innovative, contactless payments across Canada through its Visa payWave technology. The roster of Visa payWave-enabled merchants continues to grow, enabling Canadians to make secure, more convenient transactions and experience fewer and quicker line-ups when buying a cup of coffee, a bite to eat or other every day purchases.

Visa payWave allows cardholders to simply "wave and go" by waving their card in front of terminals without the need to physically insert the card, sign, or enter a PIN into a point-of-sale device. The deployment of Visa payWave-enabled Visa cards and point-of-sale terminals is closely aligned with Visa's migration to chip card technology in Canada.

In recent months, an increasing number of new merchants have signed up to receive the advantages of Visa payWave. Using their Visa payWave-enabled cards, Visa cardholders can shop at some of Canada's most popular merchants, including SUBWAY(R), Second Cup, The Jean Coutu Group, Country Style and Coffee Time. For a full list of merchants, visit visa.ca/payWave.

Visa issuers have also embraced contactless technology. TD Canada Trust and RBC Royal Bank value the convenience, security and speed of Visa payWave and are actively issuing Visa payWave cards to their customers. By the end of 2010, it is expected that there will be several million Visa payWave cards in the Canadian market.

"Since first introducing Visa payWave in Canada, we have seen tremendous support for this contactless technology from the merchant community, our issuers and Visa cardholders," said Mike Bradley, Head of Products, Visa Canada. "In addition to overall ease of use, merchants see faster transactions at the cash register, where payment speed is critical. And Visa cardholders retain control of the card during the transaction, helping to reduce the risk of fraud."

Visa payWave and new form factors

Visa is committed to providing consumers with payment choices that fit their lifestyle needs. One of the advantages of contactless technology is the ability to incorporate the contactless chip into a variety of form factors beyond traditional payment cards, enabling payment using forms such as mini cards, key fobs and mobile devices. For example, at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, RBC issued a Visa prepaid card, shaped like a *Coca-Cola contour bottle. With a wave of the Visa prepaid card, athletes could obtain beverages from Coca-Cola vending machines.

Visa is also working with mobile network operators, mobile device and chip manufacturers to bring mobile Visa payWave transactions enabled by Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to consumers. In 2009, Visa, RBC and Rogers Communications launched a mobile phone payment pilot enabling participants to shop securely with a wave of their mobile phone at the point of sale.

Visa payWave programs around the world

Visa has seen growth and progress towards broader adoption of Visa payWave at merchant locations worldwide that accept cards with Visa payWave technology. Below is a sample of Visa's global payWave programs. In time, programs similar to these have the potential to rollout in Canada.

    
    -   Italy: Banca Popolare di Sondrio, in partnership with universities in
        Milan, launched an innovative card combining an ID badge for
        university students based on MIFARE technology with a Visa Prepaid
        card equipped with contactless technology.

    -   Japan: Visa operates a commercial contactless payment service with
        major retailers and financial institutions. It is available on all
        three major mobile networks.

    -   Singapore: Local bank DBS launched their Live Fresh program combining
        Visa payWave with CEPAS - the contactless electronic purse standard
        for Singapore - allowing customers to shop, travel, commute and park
        contactlessly.

    -   United Kingdom: Barclaycard OnePulse, a multifunction Barclaycard
        Visa credit card, launched featuring three separate functions on a
        single card: Visa payWave for purchases of (pnds stlg)10 and below; a
        contactless Oyster smartcard for use when traveling around London
        Transport Network; and a standard chip and PIN credit card facility.

    -   United States: Visa payWave has been in place since 2005 and has
        expanded to 21 issuers with both debit and credit programs. Visa
        payWave is available at thousands of merchants - from quick service
        restaurants, convenience stores to taxis.
    

"Visa endeavours to provide convenient, secure electronic payment products that are more attractive to merchants, financial institutions and Visa cardholders than cash, cheques or other competing payment products," said Tim Wilson, Head of Visa Canada. "Through the rollout of new payment offerings in Canada, such as Visa payWave, Visa pushes the boundaries of innovation to enable more people and merchants in more places with a better way to pay and be paid."

About Visa

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 10,000 transactions 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.

    
    * Coca-Cola(R) is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.
        All rights reserved.
    

For further information: Teri Broughton, Visa Canada, [phone], [email protected]