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SINGAPORE, TOKYO, 21 February, 2007 -Visa and JCB announced today an agreement to share Visa Asia Pacific's contactless specification, which will soon open up the acceptance of JCB's contactless cards, J/Speedy, at merchant locations outside of Japan. With this arrangement, merchants can use the same terminal to accept contactless payments for both brands. The agreement will significantly increase the network of acceptance points for Visa and JCB contactless cards. Visa's specifications, which are based on EMV principles, were designed to support any contactless payment product.
Rahul Khosla, general manager Products, Visa Asia Pacific said, "JCB's adoption of Visa's contactless specification moves the whole payment industry closer to a single interoperable platform that works for all brands. As a result of this agreement, merchants accepting Visa and JCB contactless cards will soon be able to minimize their investment in terminals. Vendors will be able to lower their production costs, speed up time to market and thus accelerate the pace at which the industry can implement interoperable contactless payment programs. Ultimately, consumers and merchants will benefit from faster and more convenient payment. Our research(*1) confirms that this is exactly what they want."
Tac Watanabe, senior vice president of Global Infrastructure & Technologies at JCB said that this is an important phase for JCB in rolling out an international EMV-based contactless solution for their cardholders and merchants. "The agreement will provide new opportunities for the two payment systems to expand contactless merchant acceptance further and to increase the number of outlets where cardholders can use both Visa and JCB contactless cards. We strongly believe that this arrangement will also lead to more cost-effective and easier implementation of contactless payments for our issuers and acquirers."
Contactless cards are a major achievement in chip innovation as they do not need to be swiped or inserted into point-of-sale terminals. Payments are made using Radio Frequency-equipped smart cards by simply holding the card about four centimeters from the payment reader. The close range and EMV-based(*2) security technology used in Visa contactless card payments ensure that transactions are secure. Additional security features, which are based on industry-wide global standards, are built into point-of-sale terminals that will accept both Visa and JCB contactless cards.
Taiwan,where the Visa Wave contactless card is accepted at merchants such as Watsons,Blockbuster,RT-Mart,Taipei 101 and Breeze malls,will be the first market in Asia to start accepting both Visa Wave and J/Speedy at the same point-of-sale terminals. Watsons reported that customers paying with Visa Wave take just four to six seconds per transaction- compared with up to 35 seconds with magnetic stripe cards. The average queuing time for customers in Watsons is shorter by 77 percent,resulting in higher turnover at the point of sale. Since payment using Visa Wave is faster and more convenient,customers tend to purchase more in a single transaction - the average transaction value at Watsons being 2.3 times higher on Visa Wave than cash purchases.
J/Speedy is JCB's global standards-based (ISO 14443) contactless payment solution, which has been developed in recognition of the need for globally interoperable contactless payment services for merchants and consumers.
For the Japan market only,Visa and JCB have respectively introduced Visa Touch and QUICPay(TM)contactless payment programs based on Sony's FeliCa(R)(*3) standard,which is widely employed for contactless card,mobile and public transportation payments.
*1 Visa Smart Next Generation research provides new insights into consumer lifestyles in Asia Pacific and what consumers need from the payment industry.
*2 EMV chip card use advanced encryption techniques to authenticate every transaction made, making it practically impossible to use this data to create counterfeit cards.
*3 FeliCa(R) is a contactless smart card technology and registered trademark of Sony Corporation.
About J/Speedy:J/Speedy is JCB's global standards-based (ISO 14443) contactless payment solution, which has been developed in recognition of the necessity of globally standardized contactless payment services for markets around the world. In Japan, JCB also rolled out the QUICPay(TM)contactless payment product in April 2005 based on Sony's FeliCa(R)chip specification, which is widely employed for contactless payment solutions such as public transportation fare systems and mobile phone applications in Japan.
About Visa:Visa connects cardholders,merchants and financial institutions through the world's largest electronic payments network. Visa products allow buyers and sellers to conduct commerce with ease and confidence in both the physical and Virtual worlds. Visa is committed to the sustained growth of electronic payment systems to support the needs of all stakeholders and to driVe economic growth.
Visa products currently generate more than US$4 trillion in sales volume worldwide. Visa has unsurpassed acceptance at more than 24 million locations worldwide including one million ATMs. For more information. visit www.corporate.visa.com.
About Visa Asia Pacific:In Asia Pacific, Visa has a greater market share than all other payment card brands combined with 62 percent of all card purchases at the point of sale being made using Visa cards. There are currently 300 million Visa-branded cards in the region. For the 12 months ended June 2006, US$620 billion was spent at point of sale or withdrawn from ATMs in Asia Pacific using Visa cards. Visa Asia Pacific's internet address is www.visa-asia.com.
About Visa Wave:Visa Wave is a major milestone in contactless card payment and chip innovation. Payments are done via Near Field Communications (NFC) using Radio Frequency (RF). Visa Wave was introduced in Malaysia in 2004, where Visa also launched mobile Visa Wave, the world's first EMV-based mobile contactless payment pilot in April 2006 using NFC technology.
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