Visa and GSMA have announced they are to continue developing a partnership to deliver mobile financial services globally. Making the announcement at Mobile Congress World in Barcelona, the ongoing collaboration between the world’s largest retail electronic payments network and the world’s most popular wireless technology aims to make mobile payments more accessible to the mass market.“By combining the world’s largest retail electronic payments network and the world’s most popular wireless technology, we can take Visa beyond the card to mobile handsets, a move that can help accelerate the deployment of mobile payment services,” said Elizabeth Buse, Global Head of Product for Visa Inc.
“Beyond growing our business, enabling money transfer and payments on mobile handsets has the potential to make a profound difference in the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.”
Visa is already a leading provider of money transfer solutions with active programmes in 14 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
A key aspect of the collaboration between Visa and GSMA will be the creation of standards for mobile money transfer, mobile payments and related services. This collaboration will allow carriers and financial institutions to deploy mobile payments more rapidly and limit market fragmentation. Standardization also benefits consumers by promoting interoperability among carriers and institutions, ensuring a consistent and reliable experience and promoting faster adoption of the technology.
Mariano Dima, EVP of Marketing at Visa Europe, stated: “Mobile phones are lifestyle tools for a new generation of consumers in developing and developed markets. The partnership between Visa and the GSMA is a clear signal that the world is ready to embrace mobile financial services.”
“The market is clearly ready for mobile payments and, importantly, the GSMA believes that Visa is well positioned to help us drive the adoption of financial services on mobile devices globally,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Commercial Officer for the GSM Association.
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