Visa Launches Visa Wave for Contactless Card Payments

With Visa Wave, no signature is required and there is no need to hand the card to the cashier - simply wave, pay and go. Visa Wave allows consumers a fast and convenient way to make payment within seconds. The world’s first Visa Wave cards are issued by MBF Cards in Malaysia and the first live transactions were made today at a launch ceremony in a Delifrance restaurant outlet in the popular shopping mall at KLCC. Visa Wave represents a major milestone in contactless card payment and chip innovation. Payments are done via Radio Frequency (RF), much like those used in mass transit environments. By simply holding the Visa Wave card at a close range from the specially installed payment reader, the card will be detected. Visa Wave is built on interoperable standards, including full compatibility with the global EMV smart card specification that is currently being adopted by banks around the world and in Asia Pacific. Visa Wave can also be used at conventional EMV contact readers in contact mode. MBF Cards in Malaysia is the worlds first Visa Wave card issuer and will issue 2000 cards to consumers in this trial that runs from now to 31 August 2004. Visa Wave cardholders are able to wave and pay with their card at more than 150 merchant locations in Kuala Lumpur including outlets of: Bakers Cottage, Caring Pharmacy, Delifrance, Dunkin Donuts, Fajar Dept Store and Supermarket, Famous Amos, Golden Oven, Hoca Coffee, Jaya Jeans Sdn Bhd, La Cucur, Strudels, Toycity, Victoria Music Centre, Memory Lane, Skipper Seafood ,Pasaraya,TC Permata, Edwin, Brothers, Hallmark, P.K Time Sdn Bhd. and Key Color. More merchants will be added throughout the trial. Distinct Visa Wave acceptance signages are displayed at all these participating merchant outlets to make merchant recognition easy. Pending successful results from the trial, Visa intends to introduce Visa Wave to other markets in Asia Pacific. Making Payment using Visa Wave When requested for payment, the cardholder can simply wave the Visa Wave card at a close range of 4cm from the payment reader. The antenna - a thin copper wire inside the Visa Wave card, then sends an RF signal, transferring information quickly and securely to a reader connected to the merchant’s point-of-sale terminal. The transaction is then processed through Visas highly reliable and trusted payment network, as with all other conventional transactions. Visa Wave is a combi chip card with both contact and contactless interfaces. Payment transactions can be done in contactless mode at Visa Wave terminals, and also in traditional contact mode at 22 million locations worldwide through either swiping or inserting the card into a smart card reader. It can also be used to withdraw cash at over 870,000 ATMs globally. Visa has taken a leadership role in working with industry partners in developing EMV chip products such as Visa Wave and services for its members. Visas chip initiatives have enabled Visa member banks to issue more than 100 million globally-accepted Visa smart cards that conform to the international EMV standard – more than any other international payment brand. In Asia Pacific, 20 million Visa EMV smart cards have been issued under the Visa Smart card program.