Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Visa Europe to invest $273 million in contactless payment

Friday, February 5, 2010

Visa Europe has announced plans to spend more than $273 million on R&D for contactless payments via card and mobile device, according to nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com

The announcement was made by Marc O’Brien, Visa Europe’s head of UK and Ireland, during a visit to Dublin to market contactless cards and NFC payment to Irish banks.


According to O’Brien, Visa spent €800 million over the last five years on R&D, out of which €170 million went into chip and PIN.

“[Visa Europe] envisages spending a further €200 million on R&D into low-value contactless payments by card and mobile device,” O’Brien added.

Irish banks Ulster and Halifax have already begun issuing contactless Visa Debit cards, with more to follow as the investment comes to fruition.

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Research and Markets announced the addition of a report concerning the latest state of the Polish contactless payment market.

Entitled “Polish Contactless Payments Market 2011: Issuance, Transactions and Innovations” the report presents detailed analysis based on surveys carried out among all banks issuing contactless payment instruments and acquirers that operated contactless payments on the Polish market.

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la Caixa and Visa Europe have begun rolling out their contactless payment system in Barcelona. The bank is set to make all cards and point-of-sale across Barcelona contactless, requiring the distribution of 1 million cards and more than 15,000 new POS terminals.

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Visa Europe has announced that NFC-enabled smart phones from Samsung, LG and Research In Motion have been certified for use with Visa payWave, Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale.

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Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

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Visa Europe has announced that six of Germany’s leading banks are launching Visa payWave contactless services in 2012.

BW Bank, comdirect, DKB, Landesbank Berlin, TARGOBANK and Volkswagen Bank have all confirmed their plans to roll out payWave technology by the middle of next year.

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Visa Europe is anticipating a big year for contactless and NFC payments, with issuance projected to leap from 30 million in 2011 to 50 million in 2012.

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