Visa Europe Amps up Mobile Payments Service (April 18, 2013)
Visa Europe is adding two new functions to its Personal Payments mobile money transfer service, enabling users to make instant transactions in any European currency. The multi-currency feature will be rolled out across the European Union by the end of this year, Visa Europe said, and will enable payments to be sent and received across borders in a bid to simplify the often complex and costly process of international money transfers. The immediate payments initiative, meanwhile, speeds up the money transfer process, making it possible for recipients to receive sent funds within a maximum of 30 minutes. The immediate payments functionality will debut in the U.K. this week, with other markets to follow later this year.
Offered through bank partners, Visa Personal Payments enables anyone with a Visa credit, debit or reloadable prepaid card to accept payments or money transfers from another Visa card without needing to share any personal information. Senders only need to be registered with the service and know the mobile phone number or Visa card number of the person to whom they are sending the funds. Personal Payments, which debuted in the U.S. in 2011, now has 17 bank issuing partners across Europe and landed its first U.K. bank partnership last month, when RBS and its NatWest affiliate launched Personal Payments as part of the banks’ mobile banking app.
