Visa Europe announced two significant additions to its Visa Personal Payments mobile service: Multi-Currency and Immediate Payments. The new functions will enable consumers to make instant transactions from their mobile phone to any Visa cardholder in Europe, in any European currency.
The Multi-Currency feature, which will be available by the end of 2013, allows payments to be sent and received across borders, bringing international money transfers to mobile devices and simplifying what can often be a complex and expensive process for those wishing to send money to an individual in another European country.
Immediate Payments, launching in the UK this week with other markets to follow later in the year, makes it possible for consumers to receive money sent via Visa Personal Payments in a matter of minutes (up to 30 minutes).
The Visa Personal Payments system now has 17 live and committed issuers across Europe. RBS and NatWest were the first in the UK to launch the service via their mobile banking app last month, which was downloaded by 1.7million consumers in its first two weeks.
Sandra Alzetta, Senior Vice President, Visa Europe, said: "Mobile payments have the potential to fundamentally change the way that people pay and are paid. The new Multi-Currency and Immediate Payments features combine the convenience of mobile device use with the ability to send money to 460 million Visa cardholders across Europe, solving a problem that millions of consumers face every day – giving money to another individual easily and securely."
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