Voice Commerce awarded Visa membership
By Louise Naughton
08 April 2010
Financial services group, Voice Commerce has
announced that they are to become the first UK Payments Institution
to be accepted as a Principal Member of Visa Europe.
The membership, which was approved in February
this year, enables Voice Commerce to provide its own payment
services to businesses, including acquiring payment
transactions.
Nick Ogden, CEO of the Voice Commerce Group,
said: “We are thrilled that our application to become a Principal
Member of Visa Europe has been successful. As a Payment
Institution, Voice Commerce is regulated in exactly the same way as
banks in relation to capital adequacy and regulatory
responsibilities for payment services. Being granted Visa
membership means we can further compete on an equal footing across
Europe with our banking peers. Our next move will be to grow the
business and bring fresh creativity to the industry using
innovative payment services, including voice biometrics to
authorise payments.”
Following the launch of the Payment Services
Directive (PSD) in November 2009, Visa Europe confirmed that
Payment Service Providers such as Voice Commerce would be eligible
to apply to become members of Visa Europe.
Part of the global Visa network, Visa Europe
is an association made up of 4,147 European banks and financial
institutions.