Bancomer Selects Welcome Payment Application for Visa Chip Card Program

The program, called Vida Bancomer, is the first of its kind in Mexico to offer a new way to pay through automatic discounts, instant rewards and other features designed to surprise and delight customers. Vida Bancomer cardholders in Mexico can obtain added-value benefits instantly in three ways: by obtaining discounts at the time of purchase; by accumulating and redeeming points at thousands of participating merchants; and by obtaining electronic coupons that can be redeemed for merchandise, discounts or cash back. By March 1st, more than 500 merchants with over 2,200 points of sale had formalized their participation in the Vida Bancomer initiative. It is expected that gradually over the first year after launch, more than 10,000 merchants will be affiliated to the program. Affiliated merchants will immediately benefit from this service, as more than 500,000 Bancomer chip cards have already been delivered to customers. Additionally, BBVA Bancomer expects to place over 450,000 new cards due mainly to the implementation of Vida Bancomer throughout the year and convert more than two million existing ones to the new technology. Welcomes XLS software helps banks use EMV to avoid commoditization by getting customers and merchants to experience payment as something new, exciting and different through additional customer-centric enhancements to EMV, such as immediate calculation of points, instant delivery of surprise promotional offers and easy redemption of rewards at the point of sale. An EMV payment system without XLS can only combat fraud, whereas the same payment system using XLS can also fight commoditization, for a very small incremental investment.