V PAY reaches key milestone with commitments to issue 17 million cards across Europe
Paris 18 September 2007
Visa Europe has announced commitments to issue V PAY, its new European chip and PIN debit card, has reached 17 million cards. Speaking at the European Financial Marketing Association (EFMA) conference in Paris on 18th September, Peter Ayliffe, Visa Europe’s Chief Executive, outlined the role a payment system should play in making sure that the needs of the European payments market is met by recognising and responding to the significance of payments – for individual banks, national banking groups, for individual customers and for today’s society as a whole.
In his speech, Mr Ayliffe highlighted that V PAY delivers on all the attributes that the European Central Bank (ECB) expects of a SEPA compliant debit scheme:
- V PAY offers efficient low fees, up to 50 per cent better than competitive schemes
- Visa’s European processing services can process V PAY for as little as half a cent per transaction
- V PAY enhances competition between card systems, processors and banks and responds to local market needs
- Industry’s only pan-European membership association with V PAY Europe committee and local market governance
Peter Ayliffe commented, “Four million European merchants and a quarter of a million ATMS are now ready to accept V PAY and issuance has already started with Banca Carige in Italy. We have written commitments from 22 banks in eight European markets. V PAY is a reality, delivering on all the attributes that the European Central Bank expects of a new SEPA compliant debit scheme.”
Earlier this year Visa announced key issuance deals in Italy with Capitalia, ICCREA Banca, Banca Sella, Banca Carige and Gruppo Banca Popolare Emilia Romagna. In Germany the ZKA signed a co branding agreement with Visa to enable German savings banks to co-brand their debit card with V PAY. In addition the BVR, DZ BANK and WGZ BANK signed co-branding agreements on V PAY with Visa Europe.
Created by Visa Europe, V PAY is a new type of pan-European debit card, based entirely on chip and PIN. As it takes full advantage of Europe’s market leading position in chip, it is cost-effective for banks to implement, efficient for merchants to accept, and secure for cardholders to use. V PAY is tailored to the needs of European banks and consumers with regard to SEPA.
- Ends -
About Visa Europe
In Europe, there are nearly 321 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending September 2006, those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of over €1.2 trillion. For every €9 spent in Europe today, €1 is spent on a Visa card.
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, irrevocable and perpetual license in Europe.
Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/Plus is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 170 countries.
For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com.
