Visa introduces AI-powered services for smarter payments

According to the press release, VisaNet +AI comprises several innovative concepts and new value-added services, including Visa Smarter Posting and Visa Smarter Settlement Forecast, as well as Visa Smarter Stand-In Processing (Smarter STIP), a capability announced in August 2020. These innovations harness Visa’s high-performance AI platform to help make payments more predictable, transparent, and speedy. 

To help issuers create a better banking experience for cardholders, Visa developed Smarter Posting, a service that uses AI to deliver a customised score for each transaction as part of the authorisation process. The Smarter Posting model analyses transaction details and historical data to predict the likelihood that a transaction amount will remain consistent through clearing. Visa Smarter Posting will be initially available in Europe in April 2021 and is slated to expand globally in the near future. 

Furthermore, Visa created Smarter Settlement Forecast to provide clients with customised 7-day forecasts of the settlement amount they may need on hand each day. The service uses information generated by historical settlement volumes, seasonal indicators, macro-trends, outlier events, such as those surrounding COVID-19, and real-time transaction data to provide high quality predictions of cash outflows and inflows. 

Smarter Settlement Forecast is slated to be made available to eligible clients through a subscription in the Visa Analytics Platform, thereby simplifying integration for clients. Visa is currently piloting the service with three clients ahead of its formal launch planned for later 2021.

Visa Smarter Stand-In Processing (Smarter STIP), the first of the VisaNet +AI capabilities announced in August 2020, has gained traction among leading financial institutions globally. Smarter STIP uses deep learning to help financial institutions increase transaction authorisations during outages. Smarter STIP generates an informed decision to approve or decline transactions on behalf of issuers to provide consumers with an improved Visa payment experience.