Global payments technology company launches mobile payment platform mVISA in Nigeria [Photos]

July 20, 2017 5:16 PM

The mVisa platform is designed for both smartphone and feature phone users, an attempt by Visa to promote financial inclusivity.

Visa officially launched its mobile payment platform, mVisa, in Nigeria On Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Consumers from Visa’s Nigerian partner banks can pay with any mobile phone wherever mVisa is accepted. mVisa transactions are processed via Visa’s global network, VisaNet, applying the same scale, security and reliability as any other Visa transaction.

From today, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank and First Bank will offer their customers the convenience of mVisa through their mobile banking apps. Access Bank, Ecobank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank will go live with mVisa in the coming weeks. Nigeria is the first market to provide customers the convenience of making cross-border payments using mVisa.

Speaking at the launch event, Andrew Torre

“We are very excited to see more and more merchants come on board every day as they begin to understand the benefits that mVisa brings, including real-time notifications of payments and access to sales and transactions history. We have campaigns lined up for the coming months to support our merchants and encourage new customers to experience mVisa at various locations across Nigeria.” Torre said

“Today, Visa and its financial institution partners are, for the first time, providing the benefits of digital commerce to potentially everyone, everywhere across Nigeria and the African continent, bringing millions more people into the formal financial system.”

Diamond Bank’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Uzoma Dozie, stated that the launch of mVisa is timely and aligns with the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the digital growth strategy of the bank.

‘’With mVisa, Diamond Bank has raised the bar for cashless banking in Nigeria by maintaining its leadership role in driving digital financial revolution in the country. Our customers will be able to make everyday payments simply by using their mobile phones. I think mVisa is the biggest thing that has happened in the industry.”

Fidelity Bank CIO, Gbolahan Joshua

FirstBank’s Group Head, E-Business, Chuma Ezirim

mVisa is already accepted at hundreds of locations across the country with many more merchants joining the ecosystem over the new few months. These merchants include DSTV, Konga.com, Genesis and IMAX Cinemas, Hard Rock Café, Quickteller and Spar.

The mVisa implementation in Nigeria benefited from the Visa Developer Platform, which allowed all partner banks the ability to integrate the mVisa APIs directly into their mobile banking apps. While rolling out a new solution with a bank typically can take a very long time from development to implementation and testing, utilizing the Visa Developer Platform interface reduced the time taken significantly. This helped to speed up the number of banks who have been able to roll out the mVisa solution in Nigeria.

mVisa is now live in Nigeria, Kenya, India, Rwanda and Egypt with plans to launch across Africa. For more details on mVisa, visit: www.visa.com.ng/mvisa