Visa Adds 13 Partners To Its IoT Mobile Commerce Network

Credit card company Visa announced Wednesday (June 7) that it inked deals with 13 new partners to participate in its token service provider program.

In a press release, the company said that as the payments industry shifts from plastic to digital payments there is a need for new standards, such as tokenization. With demand expected to increase for payments to be embedded into a growing number of connected devices, services and experiences, Visa has built out a global network of partners to offer secure, digital payment token services and ensure that regardless of form factor, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, appliance or wearable can become a more secure place for commerce.

“A potential tidal wave of new payment accounts is approaching — conservative estimates expect 21 billion internet connected devices in just three more years, so having both the partner network and the right technology in place are fundamental to driving payments on those devices,” said Jim McCarthy, Visa’s executive vice president for innovation and strategic partnerships, in the press release. “We are proud to welcome so many great new partners to the token service provider program to help us extend tokenization to new connected devices and form factors and give consumers more payment experiences that they love.”

In October Visa announced its token service provider program with initial partners Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), Gemalto and Inside Secure. Since then, G+D, FitPay, Infosys, Inside Secure and Pri-Num have been Visa Ready-qualified and begun integrations of Visa IoT technology with partners.

“Commerce is quickly spreading from computers, smartphones and tablets to connected endpoints of all shapes and sizes,” said Jordan McKee, principal analyst at 451 Research, in the same press release. “Consumers now expect to be able to purchase goods and services at any given time or place on the device of their choosing. What’s more, they expect the experience to be not only secure, but easy to use. To meet these elevated demands, commerce stakeholders must collaborate on approaches such as tokenization to ensure security and usability are maintained at scale.”