VISA launching ‘digital wallet’ for U.S. banks

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Visa Inc, the world's largest credit and debit card processing network, is building a digital wallet that people can use to pay for things online or with their phones instead of with traditional cards.

The network said on Wednesday it is working with several large U.S. and international banks to develop the wallet. Its partners include US Bancorp, PNC Financial Services, Regions Financial, BB&T Corp, Toronto Dominion's TD Bank and the U.S. arm of Barclays PLC.

The "digital wallet" will store the banks' customers' credit and debit card account information, both for Visa cards and other cards. People can use the wallet to pay for things online or in stores, Visa said.

The network will also have to convince merchants to put a new "one-click" button on their websites, so that potential customers can use their Visa digital wallets to buy things by clicking the button instead of by manually entering all of their account information every time they want to make an online purchase.



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/12/visa-launching-digital-wallet-for-u-s-banks/

It won't be introduced until appropriate controls are in place. The banks have a lot to lose if the system can be gamed by crooks.

Nokia did a test of this concept in Finland, where you could push a button on your phone and pay for transactions. They went as far as setting up Finnish retailers and gas stations to accept the phone payments.

The idea died. People weren't interested, and they were afraid that people would clone their phones and rip them off.

It will be interesting to see if consumers are more receptive to the concept this time around.

I don't like the idea of a digital anything storing my credit/debit card info thank you very much..