Visa pledges payments legacy for London 2012

London set to become contactless capital of the world

As the Beijing Olympic Games draw to a close, attention turns to the start of the next Olympiad. Visa Europe has today announced plans to create a lasting legacy for the United Kingdom which will see electronic payments become the principal currency, even for transactions under £10 by 2012. As a result, London will be home to Europe’s largest Visa payWave acceptance network.

Speaking at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Peter Ayliffe, Chief Executive of Visa Europe said:

“There is no denying that consumers enjoy the convenience of cards. Today, in value terms, card transactions already exceed cash, but in four years time we expect more than a third of all UK consumer spending will be on Visa cards.

“When visitors come to London for the 2012 Games we’ll make sure that they won’t have to worry about how they will pay.  It will be a great chance to show the world what Visa payWave payments have to offer. We are working on a number of exciting payment innovations which will allow us to deliver a real legacy. This will not only benefit the UK, but also Europe and the rest of the world.”

By London 2012, it is expected that visitors to the Games will be able to experience the full convenience of electronic payments underpinned by Visa payment technology. These include:

• Being able to use Visa payWave cards for the majority of all low value purchases in London instead of having to use cash
• Being able to travel anywhere in London, including the length and breadth of the 17 Olympic venues, on any type of public transport, buying refreshments along the way, by using just a Visa card
• Being able to use your mobile phone to make payments. This will include receiving vouchers and special deals with other Olympic sponsors direct to your mobile handset
• Being able to make all your Olympic arrangements -  tickets, hotel and transport bookings online -  securely using Visa wherever you are in the world

In addition to creating the payment legacy after the Games, Visa will continue to  support Europe’s sporting legacy through its Team Visa mentoring programme designed to help promising young athletes to fulfill their Olympic and Paralympic dreams.

Concludes Peter Ayliffe:

“Visa is proud to have been an Olympic Games sponsor for over 22 years and will be the official payment service for London 2012. Attracting millions of people to the UK it will be the perfect environment in which to experience the convenience, speed and security of electronic payments compared with cash.  We are determined to play our part in creating a legacy that will benefit all participants in Visa’s electronic payment system.” 

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About Visa and the Olympics

Visa has been a Global Sponsor of the Olympic Games since 1986 and has been Global Sponsor of the Paralympic Games since 2002. In addition to this support, since 2002 Visa Europe has supported over 100 athletes through its mentoring programme Team Visa.  Team Visa is a sponsorship programme that helps young athletes to fulfil their Olympic and Paralympic dreams by providing them with both financial support and access to mentoring from Olympic and Paralympic Greats including Sir Steve Redgrave & Dame Tanni Grey Thompson.

Visa is proud to continue its Olympic Games sponsorship through 2012 including the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

As a worldwide Olympic partner, Visa will continue to be the exclusive payment card and official payment service of the Olympic Games through 2012. Visa will be the only card accepted at all Olympic venues for all official Olympic-related transactions.

Visa was the exclusive card of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Visa and its member financial institutions in China installed more than 90,000 ATMs and signed up some 216,000 merchant locations or outlets throughout China to prepare for the expected influx of international visitors for the Games. 

Note to editors

For broadcast footage of Visa payWave please go to to www.digitalnewsagency.com and click on the Virtual Press Office and you will find a link to download broadcast quality footage.

About Visa Europe

In Europe, there are over 350 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending December 2007, those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of over €1.3 trillion. 11.4% of consumer spending at point of sale in Europe is with a Visa card.

Visa Europe is a membership association - an organisation owned and operated by its 4,600 European member banks – that was incorporated in July 2004. In October 2007, Visa Europe became independent of the new global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence in Europe.

As a dedicated European payment system it is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers - cardholders and retailers - and to meet the European Commission’s objective to create a true internal market for payments.

Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 170 countries.