Visa Scales Intelligent Authorization Tech to Europe

Visa has launched Visa Intelligent Authorisation (VIA) in Europe, less than two weeks after introducing this new capability on the Visa Acceptance Platform.

VIA enables modern payment processing through a single application programming interface (API) so that acquirers with legacy payment authorization systems don’t have to undertake costly infrastructure rebuilds, the company said in a Thursday (March 19) press release.

With VIA, acquirers can support emerging payment methods such as digital wallets and stablecoins, as well as new forms of commerce such as agentic commerce, according to the release.

To launch this capability in Europe, Visa is partnering with an initial group of acquirers that includes Comercia Global Payments, Elavon, Fiserv, UNICRE and Worldline, the release said.

Dan Parsons, head of acceptance sales at Visa Europe, said in the release that too many transactions are still flowing through acquiring stacks that can’t keep up with today’s commerce across channels, markets and payment types. For merchants, this means higher decline rates, increased costs and missed sales, he added.

“Visa Intelligent Authorisation will help change that,” Parsons said. “It gives acquirers a fast path to modern, resilient processing, helping them build for what’s happening now, and what’s coming next.”

Visa unveiled VIA on March 9, saying this new payment processing capability is available to eligible acquirers as part of the Visa Acceptance Platform.

The company said VIA can process transactions across major card networks through a single integration, deliver 99.999% uptime and achieve an average approval rate of 96.3% globally. Acquirers can use VIA as their main processor or as a complement to extend their capabilities.

The PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa collaboration “Bridging the Gap: Helping Acquirers Meet Evolving Merchant Demands” found that merchants look to acquirers as critical partners for payment innovations and expect them to keep up with rapidly advancing technologies.

Small acquirers may face challenges in meeting merchants’ demand for seamless unified shopping, but solutions are available to help, according to the report.

“Despite these challenges, small acquirers can still play in the big leagues,” the report said. “The industry-wide shift toward modular, third-party solutions levels the playing field and eliminates the resource-intensive need to build technology in-house.”