Global card network, Visa has announced that utilizing a long standing partnership with Qiwi (a Russian payments service provider) that it has installed its payWave application on Qiwi’s mobile wallet in a move that will allow Qiwi wallet users to make mobile contactless payments. According to the company’s the co-branded Visa/Qiwi wallet uses cloud-based HCE technology on NFC-enabled devices operating on Android 4.4 or higher and can be used within Russia and anywhere contactless payments are available.
According to Qiwi, 17.3 million users in Russia use the mobile wallet and given Russia’s growing appetite for contactless payments (the number of Visa payWave transactions in Russia has increased four times and volumes seven-fold in the past year) the move to install the payWave application on Qiwi’s mobile wallet make a lot of sense and could jumpstart mobile payments in the country.
Commenting on the announcement, Andrew Torre, country manager for Visa Russia said,
“In СEMEA, Russia ranks first in terms of the penetration of contactless payments made with Visa payWave cards. These facts convincingly prove that this technology is popular among cardholders, primarily due to its convenience and security. All you need to do is to hold your Visa payWave card or, now, your smartphone with the Qiwi Visa Wallet app installed, up to the terminal.”
While the majority of contactless transactions in Russia and across Europe have been via payment cards, the move with Qiwi could make mobile payments a popular alternative in Russia and could make Russia one of the leading mobile payment markets given the significant potential the market holds. Though still very early on, the move is very strong for Visa and Qiwi.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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