Visa Europe establishes V PAY Pan-European acceptance base
London, October 25, 2005
Visa Europe has announced the completion of a series of V PAY transactions across Germany, France, Greece, Turkey, Norway, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania. This series of transactions now takes the number of countries where V PAY has successfully been tested to 21 countries with 31 acquirers across Europe.Jon Prideaux, Executive Vice President, Visa Europe commented, "This demonstrates that
V PAY acceptance is a reality for Europe with de facto acceptance at over two million EMV merchant terminals across Europe.
"Visa Europe is committed to delivering a truly European debit solution that contributes to a more open and interoperable European payments environment. We believe that V PAY is the 21st century competitive debit choice for Europe. With our acceptance infrastructure now being activated by acquirers all over Europe, issuance is set to take place in 2006," added Mr Prideaux.
V PAY is always chip, always PIN, which means an optimal level of security and issuer control with minimal fraud losses. It builds on the investment of the European banks in EMV infrastructure across Europe, and provides local and European governance, which will minimise operating costs and provide a consistent and secure acceptance network for European banks.
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Some details about V PAY
- Is an EMV chip and PIN only debit product
- Is compatible with local market account numbering structures supporting 16-19 digit account numbers beginning with 4, 5 or 6. That means issuers, acquirers and merchants in those markets can use their existing systems and infrastructure with minimal changes
- Can be co-badged with domestic debit brands
- Is designed to be in line with the SEPA Cards Framework, advocated by the European Central Bank and the European Payments Council.
- Option to carry the PLUS mark enabling global access to ATMs
- Is compatible with all EMV compliant terminals
- V PAY has its own acceptance mark.
