Visa Europe, IBM, Monitise Unite To Ignite mPayments

Monitise, an online payments provider, has announced a new deal with IBM, a multinational technology and consulting company, to help Visa Europe promote a mobile revolution, reported Banking Technology.

Visa estimated that more than half of its payment transactions will be completed through a mobile device by 2020, and these companies are eager to help generate this mobile momentum. Visa Europe hopes the deployment of new mobile services will encourage customers to conduct more financial transactions on their phones.

The partners plan to combine their strengths, and make it easier for European banks to accommodate consumers conducting mobile payments on high streets, on the Internet and on their phones.  IBM revealed it will provide consulting, software and technology to help speed up the process and develop the necessary services.

“As the leader in banking and commerce technology, IBM was the natural fit for our business as we scale our services internationally and build on our strategic partnership with Visa Europe,” said Alastair Lukies, Chief Executive, Monitise Group. “IBM solutions will play a key role in expanding our mobile commerce offering to meet growing demand from financial institutions to go beyond traditional mobile banking and payments and better connect with their customers.”

At present, there are 466 million Visa accounts across Europe, and these Visa transactions make up one in every 6.75 euros spent each day. Visa Europe serves over 3,000 member banks in over 36 countries, and is aiming to provide advanced mobile services to all of these members.

Part of the reason mobile payments hasn’t hit a tipping point in Europe is due to uncertainty amongst merchants.

According to Banking Technology, merchants are hesitant to invest in expensive technology that they cannot guarantee customers will adopt. The article indicates that only when the new mobile payments system becomes ubiquitous will it ignite.

“Visa is committed to making mobile commerce and payments ever easier by connecting consumers, member banks and retail businesses together through the globally trusted Visa network, and by working even more closely with a combined Monitise and IBM team, we are making this vision a reality,” said Steve Chambers, the CIO at Visa Europe.

To read the full article at Banking Technology click here.