Visa Showcases Mobile Payments at Mobile World Congress 2013

FOSTER CITY, Calif. & LONDON -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Visa, in collaboration with mobile operators, financial institutions, device manufacturers and technology providers, is making mobile money a reality for consumers around the world, transforming the way people shop, pay and get paid.

At Mobile World Congress 2013, to be held February 25-28 in Barcelona, Spain, the company will unveil the latest mobile payments and services at its exhibition stand in hall 6, stand 6E40. In addition, the company will host a number of events and product showcases:

• Visa Press Briefing: Monday, February 25, 4:30 p.m. CET, Hall 6 - Stand 6E40
  Visa mobile initiatives are scheduled to be announced during the press briefing. The event will be streamed live and can be accessed through the following link: http://livestre.am/1hLDm.

• Visa Mobile Payments Demos: Monday-Thursday, during show hours, Hall 6 - Booth 6E40
  Visa’s product showcase will provide attendees with an around-the-world experience of Visa mobile payments and financial services already available and soon to come in countries worldwide.
• NFC Mobile Payment Experience: Visa has partnered with Telefonica, La Caixa and the GSMA to provide select Mobile World Congress attendees with a hands-on mobile payments experience. For more information visit: www.mobileworldcongress.com/nfc-at-mwc/.
• Building the Ecosystem for NFC Services: Monday, February 25, 2:00 p.m. CET, Hall 4, Conference Village, Auditorium 3 – NFC services are continuing to be rolled-out by mobile operators, payment providers and handset manufacturers across the world. Bill Gajda, Head of Global Mobile Products for Visa Inc., and other industry experts will discuss the current state of NFC.
• Retail Therapy; Enhancing the Shopping Experience through Mobile: Wednesday, February 27, 4 p.m. CET, Hall 4 – Conference Village – Auditorium 3 – From customer engagement on-device and online to driving footfall and innovation in-store, mobile is revolutionising the retail experience. Sandra Alzetta, Senior Vice President of Mobile for Visa Europe, and industry experts will discuss the latest uses of mobile technology in the retail environment.
• Visa and GSMA to Launch mWomen Research, Tuesday, February 26, 12:00 p.m. CET, Hall 4 - Conference Village, Room CC1 – 1.5) –Visa and GSMA will release a new five-country study, “Unlocking the Potential: Women and Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets,” offering insights on how mobile financial services can better support the complex financial lives of women at the base of the pyramid. Aletha Ling, Chief Operating Officer of Fundamo, a Visa company, will join a panel of mobile money experts to discuss the findings from Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania during a seminar keynoted by Cherie Blair, Founder, The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.

Members of the press interested in viewing product demonstrations or arranging executive interviews, please contact Visa staff at Mobile World Congress:

Elvira Swanson, Visa Inc.		Eleanor Orebi Gann, Visa Europe
+1 (650) 504-4537		+44 (743) 576-4482,
elswanso@visa.com		orebige@visa.com

About Visa Inc.

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com.

About Visa Europe

Visa Europe is a payments technology business owned and operated by member banks and other payment service providers from 36 countries across Europe. Visa Europe works at the forefront of technology to create the services and infrastructure which enable millions of European consumers, businesses and governments to make electronic payments. In the last six years, Visa Europe has invested over €1 billion in new technology and infrastructure. There are 466m Visa cards in Europe while €1 in every €6.75 spent in Europe is on a Visa card. Almost 80% of Visa Europe's business is on debit cards and, in the year to September 2012, over €1 trillion (€1.02tr) was spent on Visa debit cards. Annual online spending on Visa cards in Europe topped €200 billion (€202bn) for the first time in this period and now accounts for more than 20% of Visa Europe’s processed business. Since 2004, Visa Europe has been independent of Visa Inc. and incorporated in the UK, with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence in Europe. Both companies work in partnership to enable global Visa payments. For more information, please visit www.visaeurope.com