Innovation

Payments are changing. We’re committed to being a part of that change

By Bill Gajda, Global Head, Innov./Stat. Partnership

The way consumers – and I include myself in that term – buy things, the way we pay for things is changing. In today’s world, the moment we make payments is becoming fully integrated. We step into a taxi, a hotel, a store, a theatre, and we don’t stop to pay.

Online or in a store, we don’t necessarily need to reach for our wallet when we want to buy something. We are increasingly untethered from both the place and moment of paying. Others can initiate transactions in our names- like our fridge, or our car.

This means all of us in the payments world – financial services, networks like ourselves, merchants - have the responsibility to give consumers new levels of confidence and visibility. We need make sure we make payments secure, simple and seamless.

At Visa, we welcome these shifts. Open Banking and the increasing number of challengers and disruptors we are seeing in our industry are creating new opportunities. We are embracing the new landscape these changes present and we look at how we can add our expertise, experience and scope to create new commerce experiences for consumers and merchants.

We have adapted and evolved just as much as the technology we’re adopting and naturally, through embracing these new technologies, Visa has been able to define and create its own innovation – but we also recognise that we can’t do it all on our own.

We recognise the power of partnerships, and the cohesion between partnerships and innovation.

For decades, Visa has enjoyed partnerships with financial institutions and merchants here in Europe and globally. Those partnerships, combined with the brand, resilience and reach of our global network remain our heartland. We understand the importance of being an open platform and being accessible for existing and new players, and are committed to making our network the best it can be in this new digitised world of payments.

As part of our commitment to be the most responsive and supportive network for emerging payment players as well as our existing clients and partners, we launched a fast-track initiative earlier this year, making it possible for start-ups and early stage FinTechs to on board with Visa in as little as four weeks.

Working with partners like ContisTM, we’ve made it easier than ever for emerging businesses to leverage our reach, networks and access to grow their business.

In addition to this, we have also committed to investing $100m in start-ups to help them grow their business and accelerate innovation in our ecosystem. We are focused on FinTechs who are innovating in the area of open banking and those using emerging technologies that have the potential to create new secure, commerce experiences.

At Visa, we’re committed to supporting innovation. We believe the evolution in payments in fundamentally good for consumers and good for business. That’s why we remain committed to partnering, collaborating and investing with the new generation of payment innovators.

If you’d like to learn more about how Visa is embracing change and innovation in the payments industry, follow us on @VisaNewsEurope or visit www.visa.co.uk/fintech.html to learn how your business can partner with us.

Tag: Payment technology