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V PAY - benefiting your business

VPAY card

As well as helping banks to meet the requirements of the SEPA Cards Framework, V PAY can bring many additional benefits to your debit card programmes.

Easy to issue

It is simple and inexpensive to add V PAY to your existing debit programmes.  V PAY can co-exist with any domestic-branded national debit card scheme; it is compatible with most European bank account numbering structures; and it can support other applications that reside on debit cards such as electronic purse products and loyalty schemes.

Easy to acquire

Having completed some simple validation tests, acquirers can easily offer V PAY to their merchants.  If an EMV chip and PIN terminal accepts any other Visa products, it will automatically support V PAY (if not, a simple software upgrade is all that is required).  Also, existing merchant contracts may already cover V PAY acceptance.

Widely accepted

Across Europe, V PAY can already be accepted at more than seven million EMV chip and PIN terminals and 340,000 ATMs.  When a domestic-branded national debit scheme is co-badged with V PAY, it can also be accepted through the existing domestic merchant network.

Minimum fraud

Because it is a chip-only product, with no fallback to magnetic stripe, V PAY cuts fraud and exception items to an absolute minimum.  This can increase cardholder confidence, makes V PAY more attractive to merchants, protects you from related losses and shields you from reputation risks.

Maximum usage

V PAY is specifically designed and positioned as a point-of-sale spending card.  It should therefore enable you to increase the level of debit card usage (particularly for lower value payments) while also minimising per-transaction costs.  This, in turn, can help you reduce the use of cash and its associated costs.

Increased competition

Because it brings more competition to the European debit card market, V PAY enables your bank to benefit from added choice and flexibility.  For example, V PAY can help your bank to create additional card propositions, and implement new customer segmentation programmes.

Appealing to customers

The V PAY concept has been thoroughly tested through extensive research.  Through a multi-country programme of focus groups, consumers have been introduced to the V PAY proposition and asked about their reaction to it.

They say that they like the idea, they have complete confidence in the product and the V PAY logo will encourage them to use their card for more transactions in more locations more often.  For example:
  • Consistent, pan-European acceptance is perceived as a definite advantage over existing debit propositions
  • The promise of enhanced security is regarded as a clear benefit
  • The arrival of V PAY is seen as a welcome step forward – a logical evolution of their existing debit card
  • The relationship between V PAY and Visa is viewed very positively – since Visa is associated with trust, competence and internationalism

Total control

Through V PAY, banks maintain total control over every aspect of their debit card operations.  You choose the level of risk control, with offline or online authorisation. You choose how each transaction is processed.  And, through local and regional governance bodies, you retain control of product management and evolution.

Builds on EMV chip investments

As a chip-only, PIN-only product, V PAY uses the same EMV technology that banks and merchants have already invested in.  You can therefore derive maximum benefit from the chip and PIN infrastructure in Europe.

Further information

All of Visa Europe’s card products are fully SEPA-compliant.  For more information on the full product portfolio, including V PAY, banks should contact their Visa Europe Relationship Manager.
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