Visa expands global partner network in contactless payments push

Visa Inc said this week that 14 technology partners have joined its Visa Ready for Transit programme, as part of a move to promote contactless payments on public transport around the world.

Companies from ten different countries are included on the list, joining Vix and Worldline, the initial members of the scheme when it launched in November 2017.

As part of the programme, Visa is looking to work with companies that have hardware and software “to support a more seamless commute for people around the world”. It is part of a wider Visa Ready initiative, which allows developers to ensure their biometrics, transit or internet-of-things solutions meets Visa’s security standards and specifications.

The new technology company partners announced by Visa this week are, as follows:

AS Ridango: a transit solutions and services provider from Estonia.

BBPOS International: a mobile point-of-sale technology distributor from Hong Kong.

Conduent Business Solutions: a business process services provider from France, offering capabilities in transaction processing, automation and analytics.

Digicon: a Brazilian company specialising in the provision of turnstiles, traffic controllers, parking meters, electronic time clocks and automatic ticketing systems for urban transportation.

FIME: a France-based organisation that works with transit operators to deliver interoperability of fare collection systems.

Mennica Polska: a Polish ticketing operator and automatic fare collection solutions integrator.

Paycraft: an Indian contactless, open-loop products provider with capabilities of processing online and offline transactions.

Perto: a Brazilian technology products and services developer for banks and retailers.

Planeta Informática: another Brazilian company which provides solution for secure online and offline payment systems and devices.

Quadrac: a Japanese provider of ultra-high-speed payment servers and proximity communication devices.

Schiedt&Bachmann: an intelligent ticketing and information systems provider from Germany.

Spire Payments: a Luxembourg-based point-of-sale hardware and software provider.

Smartran: a smart business solutions provider in the UK, which utlises contactless EMV and NFC mobile applications.

T-Systems: a UK-based information and communication technology systems operator for multinationals and public-sector institutions.

Jason Blackhurst, senior vice president for innovation & strategic partnerships at Visa, commented: “We’re seeing renewed interest from transit-related companies around the world to learn how new innovations in payments can improve their customer experiences.

“Since launching Visa Ready for Transit, we’ve welcomed 16 world-class technology partners to the programme, ranging from small tech companies to multinational organisations. Each of these partners are empowered to help extend the benefits of Visa’s digital payment technology to transit companies around the globe.”