Paying contactless with Visa payWave for the first time in Germany

Visa Europe, Landesbank Berlin AG (LBB) and Gemalto announced the introduction of contactless payments in Germany. Contactless payments with the Visa payWave card allows transactions in less than a second. The credit card is featured with a contactless chip. For purchases of up to €20 consumers will just need to wave their Visa payWave card in front of the reader and the payment is completed in less than a second with no need to enter their PIN*. The Visa payWave cards are issued in collaboration with the technology and security service provider Gemalto.

For high volume retail environments, such as coffee shops, express grocery stores and newsagents, where transaction values are low and speed of service is essential, Visa payWave is ideal. It offers a secure, convenient and quick alternative to cash while reducing queuing times and making it easy for customers to pay, fostering customer loyalty and encouraging repeated purchases.

“Contactless payments promise to revolutionise the payment experience for consumers. Gone is the reliance on cash and coins – replaced with a quick, highly convenient and secure alternative,” commented Ottmar Bloching, General Manager of Visa Europe in Germany.

Christoph Siegelin, Marketing Director, North/Central Europe and Middle East at Gemalto, explains: “The Visa payWave card is based on the latest technology, which allows Gemalto to demonstrate its expertise and know-how in secure transactions, bringing added value for its customers and security and convenience for the end user.”

Landesbank Berlin AG will issue Visa payWave cards as part of a pilot project. Dr. Tilo Schürer, Head of Direct Marketing of Landesbank Berlin: “We want to offer trendsetting innovations to our customers. Thanks to the Visa payWave card of Landesbank Berlin, they save valuable time and can use their credit card even more conveniently.”

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Note to Editors:

* Visa payWave cards build on the extension of chip and PIN technology. Contactless payment for items of €20 or less will require no PIN; however cardholders will occasionally be required to enter their own PIN to ensure security. From the terminal and processing perspective, the same infrastructure like implemented in the NFC project will be used.

About Visa Europe

In Europe, there are over 360 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending June 2008, 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 owned and operated by its 4,600 European member banks and 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.