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PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL CURRENCY

May 3, 2012

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Visa at CTIA Wireless 2012

Next week, we will be heading to New Orleans for CTIA Wireless 2012, one of the world’s largest wireless conferences. Our team will showcase the future of payments and the important role mobile technology will play in that future. Product demonstrations include Visa Mobile Prepaid, Visa’s new mobile-based product for developing countries, Visa payWave, our mobile payment app that works with NFC phones, and V.me by Visa, Visa’s digital wallet service. Stop by the booth or follow us on Twitter.

 

WHEN: May 8-10, 2012
WHERE: CTIA Wireless 2012 in New Orleans, LA
WHAT: Visa Exhibition Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Hall F, booth #5433
Visa Executive Keynote John Partridge, President, Visa Inc. May 9, 2012 from 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. CDT Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, La Nouvelle Ballroom, Level 2
Panel: Mobile Payments Brad Greene, Senior Business Leader, Visa Inc. May 9, 2012 from 2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. CDT Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Room 356

 

If you’re attending the event, take a minute to tell us what you think about mobile commerce.

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Posted by: Ryan Donovan, Corporate Relations on May 3, 2012 at 11:03 am

Category: Technology & Innovation, Uncategorized
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Apr 23, 2012

Sixth Annual Financial Literacy Summit in Chicago

Today, we’re once again working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to put on our annual Financial Literacy Summit. At the event, speakers from around the world will be exploring potential solutions to improve financial literacy and discussing the successes and challenges faced in various countries around the world.  This will be the sixth consecutive year that we’ve partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to co-sponsor the Summit, which helps to mark national Financial Literacy Month and Money Smart Week in Chicago. Highlights of today’s Summit include:

  • The results of the 2012 Global Financial Literacy Barometer from Visa and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine. The barometer assesses and ranks the financial literacy levels of people in 28 nations.
  • The release of Visa’s new, free, comprehensive personal finance high school curriculum called the “Practical Money Skills Course,” which covers subjects such as budgeting, saving, loans, insurance and more.
  • A panel presentation on original financial education research that explored ways financial knowledge and behavior can be improved.

To view the full Summit online, visit www.practicalmoneyskills.com/summit2012.

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Posted by: Erika White, Visa Corporate Relations on April 23, 2012 at 8:34 am

Category: Corporate Responsibility, Financial Literacy, Government Regulatory Issues & Interchange, Uncategorized
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Mar 5, 2012

U.S. Department of Commerce White Paper Furthers Privacy Debate

A little over a year ago, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a preliminary report on privacy.  That “green paper” has now ripened into a framework of specific recommendations aimed at protecting the privacy and use of consumer data while promoting global commerce innovations.

Last week, I joined the group at the White House for the release of the Framework and White Paper for protecting privacy and promoting innovation in the global digital economy.

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Posted by: Russell Schrader, Visa Chief Privacy Officer on March 5, 2012 at 2:10 pm

Category: About Visa, Privacy, Regulation, Security, Uncategorized
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Feb 22, 2012

What’s Next in Mobile Payments—Visa at Mobile World Congress 2012

Next week, we will be heading to Barcelona to attend the 2012 Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest conference celebrating the current state of mobile devices and offering a glimpse into the future of mobile technology.  We will be participating in several events throughout the four-day event, including a keynote by Visa Inc.’s President, John Partridge on Financial Services in a Mobile World.  Our schedule is listed below so please stop by the booth to say hello or join the keynote or panel discussion.  Additionally, we’ll be tweeting and blogging from the event, so send along your questions or comments on trends in mobile payments.

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Posted by: Ryan Donovan, Corporate Relations on February 22, 2012 at 9:26 am

Category: Mobile, Technology & Innovation, Uncategorized
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Dec 2, 2011

The Next Frontier for Financial Education

When I arrived in South Africa for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s conference on financial education I was struck by the contrasts in this fascinating country.

But even more intriguing than the economic, social and topographical diversity was a striking commonality. From the densely packed urban townships, to the opulent Cape Town shopping malls, to the rural farm communities, there are mobile phone towers. They spring up everywhere, even in places without running water or reliable electricity.

I was startled to find that 3G network access was available every place I went, including, at one a point, on a bone-rattling, dusty road miles from any buildings. Being in South Africa it became clear to me the need to also deliver financial education by this ubiquitous tool.

One of the biggest challenges for those of us working to improve financial literacy is how to have this vital information connect with consumers. It has to be relevant, timely and accessible. And it’s ‘accessible’ that is the moving target.

Ten years ago web-based content was often seen as the best way to reach the end user. While traditional computers accessing the Internet are still a powerful tool, mobile phones have become the screen of choice today for many audiences including everyone I met in South Africa.

I am convinced that in places like Africa, the next opportunity in financial literacy is to take the fundamentals of personal finance – budgeting, saving, responsible spending, wise use of credit and access to the banking system – and deliver them on a mobile device at the right time, to the right audience. This won’t be accomplished overnight or by one organization. Working collectively, though, I am convinced we can make it happen.

A mobile phone tower perched on a thatched roof in rural South Africa.

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Posted by: Jason Alderman, Visa Corporate Relations on December 2, 2011 at 9:48 am

Category: Corporate Responsibility, Uncategorized
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Oct 20, 2011

VISA CEO JOE SAUNDERS FEATURED IN SMART MONEY MAGAZINE

Smart Money’s latest issue has hit the stands and the magazine features an interview with our CEO, Joe Saunders.  There have been many changes in our industry in the past year and sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the moving parts.  The full interview with Smart Money, which can be read here, includes Joe’s perspective on the international growth opportunity, the state of the U.S. economy and how Visa plans to turn the vision of a “digital wallet” into a reality.

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Posted by: Doug Michelman, Global Head, Corporate Relations, Visa Inc. on October 20, 2011 at 10:12 am

Category: Uncategorized
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Sep 20, 2011

Visa Raises Awareness of the Benefits of Debit in Japan

In Japan Visa Debit, having first launched in 2006, is still relatively new to consumers.  In fact, many Japanese consumers do not know what Visa Debit is, nor where and how it can be used.  To mark the launch of Visa Debit issuance by the fourth largest bank in Japan (Resona Bank) and raise awareness about the benefits of Visa Debit for daily money management, cash replacement and a everyday shopping, Visa recently hosted an event to educate Japanese bloggers in Tokyo. 

More than 30 bloggers attended the event. Kyoko Yamaguchi, who often appears on TV programs as a financial advisor, delivered keynote remarks. She encouraged Japanese consumers to use electronic payments for daily money management. And, in other discussions throughout the day, one blogger remarked “I didn’t know about Visa Debit. But the security features like zero liability and security alerts respond to the security concerns I had about using payment cards.”

As we continue to educate Japanese consumers and opinion leaders about the benefits of debit cards and electronic payments in general, we’ll share more stories here.

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Posted by: Akiko Kato, Visa Corporate Relations, Japan on September 20, 2011 at 9:39 am

Category: About Visa, Financial Literacy, Products & Services, Uncategorized
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Sep 13, 2011

Travel planning is now a breeze with Visa and Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet and Visa have joined forces to create a travel micorsite packed with expert information on 12 key destinations around the world – namely Australia, China, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, UAE and Ukraine.

The microsite combines invaluable travel advice from Lonely Planet’s travel writers with related payment advice from Visa to help travelers prepare all levels of their trip – from where to eat to whether they can use their Visa card to pay for that meal or where to find the nearest ATM should they still need cash. 

Potential travelers can find useful travel tools and services including an ATM locator, suggested trip itineraries, a calendar of events for each destination and even a countdown clock that can let them know how many days they have left to their holiday and pepper them with information on local weather, currency rates and Visa acceptance. 

Travelers can also download a series of free “Just Landed” destination guides that offer essential arrival information for travelers on each of the specified destinations. The “Just Landed” guide is a PDF document that can be easily printed and kept with a traveler’s passport for quick reference to local tipping policies, getting to and from the airport, useful local phrases as well as Visa GCAS numbers in case travelers lose their Visa cards while on holiday.

Visit www.visa.com/lonelyplanet today and start preparing for that next holiday with the help of expert travel and financial advice!

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Posted by: Jag Mistry, Corporate Relations, Visa Inc. on September 13, 2011 at 8:30 am

Category: About Visa, Benefits of Digital Currency, Cross Border, Uncategorized
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Aug 9, 2011

Industry Applauds Visa’s Decision to Speed Up Acceptance of EMV Contact and Chip Technology in U.S.

As Ellen Richey pointed out in her blog post earlier, Visa today announced plans to accelerate the migration to EMV contact and contactless chip technology in the United States, working to drive a speedier adoption of chip card and mobile payments.  We are confident that this is the right time for contact and contactless chip technology to take hold in the U.S., and the programs we are announcing are designed to help the marketplace move in that direction. Throughout the day, we were glad to see that industry analysts and experts voiced their agreement that the U.S. is ready for this technology:

In articles appearing in the New York Times and Network World, Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the SmartCard Alliance, said that Visa’s move was the “ignition point” that was needed to spark a migration to the technology in the United States, because merchants have been waiting for a road map from card companies as to what technologies to invest in. “Now that Visa has signaled that the future will include contact chips and mobile contactless payments,” he stated, “they know what the next generation of payments will look like.”

George Peabody, Director of Emerging Technologies Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group, said in a blog post that EMV “is finally getting an endorsement and a strong nudge for its deployment into the U.S. market” and that Visa’s announcement “means merchants can accept both cards and, more importantly, transactions originated by NFC-equipped smartphones.” 

James Van Dyke, Founder and President of Javelin Group posted on his blog that he finds today’s announcement “quite compelling because it includes pragmatic and long-term incentives for major camps in the card payments industry.”  He said he was “impressed with Visa’s announcement because they’ve communicated specific incentives aimed at changing the behaviors of card-issuing banks, merchants, and merchant-acquiring banks in an effort to get cardholders to go chip (and eventually, mobile).”  

Stay tuned as we take another step in carrying payments into the future.

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Posted by: Sandra Chu, Visa Corporate Relations on August 9, 2011 at 6:05 pm

Category: Mobile, Security, Technology & Innovation, Uncategorized
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Aug 9, 2011

Visa Announces Plan to Drive Chip Card and Mobile Payment Adoption

I’ve often been asked if the United States will ever adopt EMV chip technology as many other countries have. My response has been, it’s not a question of “whether” the United States will begin to use chip technology but “when” and “how.”

At Visa, we have believed for some time that markets need to move toward dynamic authentication in order to carry payments into the future. As chip technology has been adopted  around the world, debate has raged over whether the required investments are justified for the U.S. as well.

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Posted by: Ellen Richey, Chief Enterprise Risk Officer on August 9, 2011 at 5:50 am

Category: Products & Services, Security, Technology & Innovation, Uncategorized
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