Visa Launches Pago Móvil con Visa in Peru

Visa’s first commercial mobile payment program in Peru, announced today from the second annual GSMA Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona, is the first program of its kind in Latin America. Initially, Visa account holders will be able to use their mobile phone to pay for cab fares and send flower arrangements, as well as to top up their wireless prepaid account. Other merchant segments are scheduled to be added, such as deliveries of pharmaceutical products, gas distribution and catalog orders.

“We are reaching a milestone in the payment industry in Latin America,” said Jurgen Wassmann, Head of Emerging Products and Channels for Visa Inc., Latin America and Caribbean Region. “Visa is bringing the future of payments to Latin America with a technology that makes consumers’ lives easier by allowing them to pay anytime, anywhere, and in a way that is both simple and convenient.”

Pago Móvil con Visa is particularly appealing to merchants in remote regions and to mobile businesses with no access to a wired telecommunications infrastructure. The service enables merchants to accept electronic payments via the wireless network, eliminating the need for a traditional (wired) payment terminal. VisaNet Perú, the acquirer of Visa credit and debit payment transactions in Peru, is overseeing the implementation of Pago Móvil con Visa.

“Consumer demand for secure, efficient access to mobile financial services is on the rise globally,” said Tim Attinger, Global Head of Product Development for Visa Inc., during his keynote address at the Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona. “We are reaching a tipping point where our early efforts in testing mobile payment technology around the globe have begun to drive mobile commerce from tests into full commercial deployment.”