Visa unveils V.me wallet brand

The payments giant’s digital wallet is to be called ‘V.me’ and will launch in 2012 as a payment system for online transactions, with NFC at the point of sale and targeted rewards, offers and coupons set to follow.

V.me by Visa
V.ME: Visa's new digital wallet brand and acceptance mark

Visa’s multi-channel digital wallet, revealed in May this year, is to be called ‘V.me’. The service will launch in 2012, but a website is already live at v.me.

V.me will initially be offered online, where customers will use a special button on the merchant’s website to enter a mobile-optimised checkout process hosted by Visa. They will log in with a username and password, then choose which of their registered payment methods they would like to use. Merchant settlement takes place through the acquirer in the usual way, and Visa takes on the responsibility for PCI compliance.

Payments at bricks and mortar retailers via “wave-to-pay” NFC are promised for the future.

The wallet’s proposition for end-users is one of convenience and security — card details are not shared with merchants and customers will be able to pay with any card including those from MasterCard, American Express, and Discover — while Visa promises merchants “Soon, you’ll be able to offer targeted rewards and coupons to your customers and find new customers who are interested in products and services like the ones you sell.”

Visa has also launched a resource to give developers secure access to its global payments platform. The Visa Developer Center offers ecommerce and mobile application developers the tools needed for the rapid creation and deployment of payment applications, says the company, and gives access to “the payment expertise, open APIs, and development tools offered by Visa and its subsidiaries, CyberSource, Authorize.Net, and PlaySpan.”

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