Visa Europe welcomes ECB's latest SEPA progress report
European governance of payment systems a key priority
LONDON, 20 November 2006
Visa Europe welcomes the European Central Bank's report, 'The Eurosystem's View of a "SEPA for Cards"' which was issued earlier today.The ECB report states that "the Eurosystem expects at least one European card scheme to emerge in the coming years". It adds that this scheme "would be a key factor in enhancing diversity and competition in the market."
It also considers that "shareholder-driven solutions" could lead to "excessive price increases" and concludes that "The existence of at least one more European bank-owned scheme would lessen the risk of price increases."
Peter Ayliffe, President and CEO of Visa Europe, said: "While we have yet to fully review the report, we agree with the ECB that European governance of payment systems should be one of the key priorities going forward. Visa Europe strongly supports the creation of SEPA and a truly internal market for payments: SEPA will spur competition to the benefit of consumers. At the same time, we recognise the need and desire of European banks to control such a fundamental part of their business."
He added: "We therefore announced last month our commitment to continue as an independent European membership association: governed in Europe, by European banks, for the benefit of European customers. Our unique structure makes Visa Europe the only truly pan-European payment systems organisation.
"We welcome the fact the report recognises the need for consistency in approach to interchange between European and national regulators. This is fundamental to ensuring that a modern and innovative payments systems can continue to be developed in Europe."
To make SEPA a reality, Visa Europe has developed V PAY, a debit card specifically designed for Europe. V PAY will allow banks that issue domestic-only debit cards to converge easily to SEPA-compliant products which can be used across Europe.
Based on chip-and-PIN-only technology, V PAY is fully secure, and will be the most competitive debit product to operate in market. European governance ensures that the product is developed according to our European customers' needs.
Moreover, Visa Europe's new transaction processing system, is now providing European banks with the latest technology, enabling them to operate and compete in a more open and competitive European market.
By 1 January 2007, one year ahead of the SEPA deadline, all of Visa Europe's product platforms, operating regulations, processing systems and prices will be fully SEPA-compliant. From 1 January 2007, every member bank of Visa Europe, across each of the 34 countries we represent, will be able to issue Visa products that are fully compliant with SEPA.
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About Visa Europe
In Europe, there are over 315 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending June 2006, those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of over €1.19 trillion.Visa Europe is a membership association - an organisation owned and operated by its 4,500 European member banks. As a dedicated European organisation it is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers - cardholders and retailers - and to meet the European Commission's objective to create a true internal market for payments. Visa Europe is a part owner of Visa International, the organisation that ensures global interoperability of products as well as management of the Visa brand.
In October 2006, Visa announced that it intends to restructure its entire worldwide organisation except Europe in order to create a new public global corporation called Visa Inc. As a part of this restructuring, Visa Europe will remain a membership association with an exclusive license in Europe.
Globally Visa is one of the world's leading payment brands and has unsurpassed acceptance at approximately 24 million acceptance locations including one million ATMs.
The Visa Europe press office only deals with media enquiries relating to the organization's activities in the region. Journalists should email: europeanmedia@visa.com
