V PAY card issuing commitments hit 20 million
London 11th December 2007
Visa Europe today announced that 22 banks across Europe have committed to issue 20 million V PAY cards, Visa Europe’s SEPA compliant debit product.
V PAY the chip only, PIN only pan-European debit card has been recognised by European banks as cost effective to implement, efficient for merchants to accept and for consumers it is secure, versatile and simple to use.
In Italy, Mr Gnetti, Head of Mass Market Retail, Unicredit Group commented, “As a chip and PIN product, V PAY enables us to provide the greatest fraud protection for our customers. The card also meets the requirements of SEPA making it an attractive proposition for European banks such as ourselves.”
Mr Siegers, Executive Chairman of the board of Volksbank Hildesheim eG, in Germany, echoed this support for V PAY, “We recognise V PAY as the product that will introduce duality, and therefore competition in international debit in the German market. It is efficient, low cost and totally European; whilst at the same time it allows banks to manage the development of the product to meet local market needs through the local V PAY governance body - V PAY Deutschland.”
Pedro Deserrano, Senior Vice President V PAY, Visa Europe added,
“We knew from the outset we had a good product, with V PAY giving banks the opportunity to re-launch and re-position debit and simultaneously meet SEPA requirements. The rate at which banks have signed up to this product, and committed to issuance, shows they share our belief.”
“This announcement follows Peter Ayliffe’s speech at September’s EFMA conference in Paris when he announced a 17 million issuance commitment. To increase this figure by 3 million, in such a short time, is good progress.”
The 20 million card commitment is equivalent to a 12% market share of debit cards in the targeted markets for V PAY.
V PAY is currently issued in Italy and has commitments in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Austria and Bulgaria. The 22 committed banks include:
- Banca Carige
- Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna
- Banca Sella
- Cassa Risparmio San Miniato
- DZ Bank
- Fortis
- ICCREA Banca
- KBC
- Landesbank Baden-Württemberg
- Landesbank Berlin
- Monte dei Paschi di Siena
- Paylife (formerly Europay Austria)
- Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, Wien
- Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland
- UBS
- Unicredit Banca
- Unicredit Banca di Roma
- Unicredit Banco di Sicilia
- Unicredit Bipop Carire
- WGZ Bank
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.
