Visa U.S.A. Launches 'smart Visa' Product Platform
First USA, FleetBoston and Providian Financial to Offer Visa Cardholders the
Latest in Chip-Enabled Technology
FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2000-- Visa U.S.A., the
nation's largest payment system, today launched its ``smart Visa'' card, a
new, futuristic payment card platform with multi-function capabilities
powered by cutting edge chip technology.
The smart Visa card enables Visa financial institutions to combine the
purchasing power of traditional payment cards with smart chip technology to
offer added security, utility and convenience to consumers. With the growth
in e-commerce, new and technologically-enhanced payment products such as the
smart Visa card will meet the evolving needs of consumers for greater
convenience, control and highly personalized services.
The introduction of smart Visa is part of a broad strategy designed to
provide Visa Issuers with both a brand platform and a technology platform to
significantly increase marketing success while reducing time and cost to
market.
Smart Visa plays an important role in Visa's ongoing programs to position
Visa as the payment brand of choice. The brand platform consists of a
distinctive brand identity system that can be leveraged by Issuers on all
Visa-flagged credit and deposit access products. An aggressive
marketing-communications campaign will generate awareness and understanding
of smart Visa while building a foundation for Issuer marketing campaigns.
The campaign will include national television and online advertising,
content on Visa.com, and ongoing promotions. The technology platform
provides Visa Issuers with a number of pre-packaged applications that can be
readily adapted to fit individual Issuer strategies for smart cards. Working
together, the identity and technology platforms should better enable Visa
Issuers to effectively compete in a rapidly changing marketplace. This fall,
Visa member financial institutions First USA, FleetBoston Financial Corp.
and Providian Financial Corp. will implement Smart Visa card programs with
new chip technology. Visa also is in discussions with other financial
institutions looking to incorporate the technology into their business
strategies. Because smart Visa cards use the Open Platform, Visa will be
able to further collaborate with developers and Member banks to offer
innovative services that will work not only in the physical world, but also
online, and ultimately with mobile phones, PCs, and personal digital
assistants (PDAs).
The smart Visa card product platform will deliver technology now only
available abroad or in select domestic programs in the form of a mainstream
U.S. product offering to provide a combination of web-delivered added value,
additional security, and online shopping enhancements such as form-fill
capability. Used in conjunction with a smart card reader connected to a PC,
smart Visa cards have the ability to provide consumers with secure access to
value-added content on Issuer web sites, to facilitate secure online
payment, and ultimately, to enable cardholders to download enhancements to
their cards via their PCs without ever having to get a new card.
As chip payment technology begins to emerge at physical merchant locations
in the United States, smart Visa cardholders will enjoy benefits of smart
card technology in traditional payment environments as well. Additionally,
smart cards can also store information to add convenience to consumers'
everyday lives, such as the ability to function as electronic keys for a
home, office or car.
``Over the past five years, the evolution of the Internet and impact of
e-commerce has generated an increased demand in the U.S. for payment
products offering enhanced technology and applications,'' said Al Banisch,
senior vice president of Consumer Credit Products, Visa U.S.A. ``Consumers
expect new technologies, with time and convenience being of the utmost
importance. smart Visa delivers tremendous benefits to cardholders,
providing greater security in tandem with financial information, more
efficient online commerce, and highly personalized benefits and services to
simplify their lives.''
Already popular in Europe, smart cards are gaining momentum in the U.S. Visa
has led the chip market globally, as evidenced by the more than 23 million
Visa-branded chip cards currently used worldwide. With the cost of chip
technology decreasing and penetration of home computer usage on the rise,
the potential for smart cards in the U.S. is becoming more of a reality,
offering countless benefits for banks, for merchants and consumers.
Building on the momentum of the recent launch of Visa Direct Exchange, the
world's largest financial payments network using Internet technologies, Visa
continues to deliver new payment options by bringing smart Visa technology
to consumers for fast and secure processing. The smart Visa Program is
another element of Visa's effort to facilitate ``universal commerce'' for
its Members, merchants and consumers, involving all forms of payment
technologies, including the Internet, mobile commerce and other emerging
technologies.
About Visa U.S.A.
Visa U.S.A. is the leading payment brand and the largest payments system in
the United States, with more volume than all other major payment cards
combined. Visa U.S.A. plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products
and technologies to benefit its 14,000 U.S. member financial institutions
and their cardholders. There are more than 340 million Visa credit,
commercial and check cards, which generate more than $720 billion in annual
transaction volume. Visa-branded cards are accepted at over 19 million
locations worldwide, including some 500,000 ATMs in the Visa/PLUS Global ATM
Network. With more than 80 smart card programs in over 35 countries and on
the Internet, Visa has broad in-market experience and is poised to become
the leader in smart card emerging technology.