Who can become a Visa Europe member?
The Payment Services Directive (PSD), which provides a common
legal basis for all EU payments (excluding cash and cheques),
clarifies the types of organisation that are eligible for
membership of Visa Europe.
The PSD identifies six categories of organisation that can offer
various types of payment service:
- Credit institutions
- E-money institutions
- Payment institutions
- Post Office giro
- Central banks
- Various government organisations
Any company or organisation falling within these six categories,
and which is authorised and supervised as appropriate, can apply to
become a member of Visa Europe.
Such members can then issue Visa cards or can offer an acquiring
service, allowing their customers to accept Visa payments.
Eligible activities of banks, payment institutions and e-money
institutions
View the
eligible activities of banks, payment institutions and e-money
institutions (PDF 0.3MB)