One of the biggest card issuers in the world is about to launch a digital wallet as it seeks to remain in line with recent developments in the payments industry.
The product is called V.me and is expected to become available to both consumers and businesses early next year, although developers are already encouraged to work on integrating the wallet into their products.
Visas' latest product is seen as a major competitor to PayPal and other similar payment providers. It offers customers the ability to assign several debit and credit cards to their V.me account, allowing them to complete purchases without the need to enter cardholder details each time. Instead they can just use their V.me login at participating online stores to complete a payment.
Right now it is not clear what other cards, apart from Visas' own, will be compatible with the wallet. It is fair to say that with millions of Visa cards being used around the world, even if the scheme is exclusive of other cards it will still likely be seen as attractive by both shoppers and retailers.
Visa is keen to stress the advantages of their new product: the ability to link several cards to one account, the ease of completing purchases and security are all being lauded on their website.
The card issuer also stresses that all transactions made through the new system will automatically be PCI compliant, making it easier for online businesses to fulfil this security obligation.
In recent years PayPal has been growing as more of us began shopping online and looking at ways to make such purchases easier. It was only a matter of time for other players to decide and capitalise on the huge potential held by online payments.
Digital wallets are understandably popular with some customers, but others are still quite apprehensive about them. Now that a brand like Visa, which is seen as trustworthy and reliable, has decided to develop such a scheme may convince more people that it is safe and secure to make card payments in this way.