Visa, NeuStar team on mobile payments and financial services

Services include bill payments, mobile transaction alerts and mobile money transfers

Mikael Ricknäs (IDG News Service)
24 June, 2009 01:06
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Visa and NeuStar have joined forces and formed an alliance that it hopes will help accelerate the adoption of mobile financial services globally, they said on Tuesday.

Those services may include mobile remote payments for services such as bill payment and top-up for wireless airtime minutes, mobile transaction alerts and mobile money transfers, according to a statement.

Credit-card giant Visa comes to the table with its global payment network. NeuStar, a Virginia-based provider of services to telecom carriers, will serve as a neutral intermediary between mobile operators and other involved companies, and simplify the transfer of data between them.

Visa also announced what it calls the first mobile payment service in Latin America. Pago Móvil con Visa allows Peruvian holders of cards issued by Banco de Crédito, Interbank, BBVA Continental or Scotiabank to pay for products and services over the wireless network.

Both announcements were made at the Mobile Money Summit, which takes place in Barcelona this week and is organized by the GSM Association.

Currently, Visa and MasterCard are pushing a variety of mobile payments and financial services. Tests are now being turned into commercial services.

Last week MasterCard's MoneySend service went live in the U.S. It allows users to send and receive funds using text messages, the mobile browser, mobile apps, or over the Internet from a PC, a spokeswoman at MasterCard said via e-mail.