V.me currently only available in the US
V.me, Visa’s online payment service is launching with the backing of over 50 financial institutions and 23 online retailers, reports StrategyEye.
The service, which is currently only available in the US, offers online and mobile payments to customers allowing them to upload details onto a range of cards, be they Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover, and also make purchases without the need to input payment details every time they use their card.
Retailers such as 1-800-flowers, Buy.com and Movietickets.com currently accept V.me, which focusses more on online shopping but there are plans to expand the service internationally and to point-of-sale terminals allowing consumers to use the service in-store, by early 2013, according to Jennifer Schultz, global head of e-commerce at Visa.
This will bring it into direct competition with other online payments providers such as PayPal and Square. However, these companies offer plug-in card readers whereas Visa’s service will make use of NFC, enabling consumers with an NFC-enabled smartphone to pay by swiping their device in-store.
“In early 2013 – not necessarily in the US – you’ll see physical implementations of V.me,” said Schultz. The likelihood is that the service will start by offering customers the ability to buy something online and then picking it up in-store.
Whitepapers
Related reading
Central banks best suited to issue digital currencies
By Aaran Fronda A recent report by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) said that central banks rather than private ... read more
Instant payments: innovations inbound for corporates
In 2020, instant payments look set to continue their current trajectory to become the biggest trend in payments. While these schemes already offer numerous benefits to corporates, leveraging innovations such as APIs and request to pay will go some way to unlocking their full potential, argues Michael Knetsch
Obstacles exist for banks to meet ECB’s instant payments goal
The cost of joining instant payment platforms will be one of many hurdles banks and payment services providers must overcome to meet ... read more
Banks must be aware of “biases” in data used to train ML models
Financial institutions need to be conscious of biases in the historical data that is being used to train machine learning (ML) models, ... read more
