Visa wins m-payment backing from Telefonica

Financial services firm Visa continued its expansion into the mobile payments space by announcing a preferential partnership with Telefónica in Europe.

Telefónica Digital and Visa Europe have agreed a wide ranging strategic partnership to drive new business opportunities with both companies to co-invest in the development of products and services in areas such as mobile wallet, contactless payments (NFC), acquirer services for mobile point of sale, and merchant offers.

Visa will also take up the role of Telefónica’s preferred partner for the issuance of branded payments cards and the development of related mobile payment services.

“Visa has been an important partner for a number of years in Europe, helping us to trial, test and ultimately launch mobile payments products,” said Joaquin Mata, director of financial services at Telefónica Digital. “This market has enormous untapped potential and through this partnership with Visa Europe we aim to unlock significant new business opportunities.”

In addition to Visa Europe, Telefónica has recently formed m-commerce partnerships with Sybase and Giesecke and Devrient.