Visa launches real-time payments platform in European market
After boosting volumes by 75% in other markets, Visa is bringing its real-time payments software, Visa Direct, to Europe, ensuring wide adoption by requiring all card issuers to enable such payments by October 2018. Visa Direct allows person-to-person, business-to-consumer and business-to-business payments to be made in minutes. Visa has partnered with Worldpay and is releasing an API on its developer platform to support merchants as they adopt the technology.
Visa is to bring its real-time payments platform to market in Europe after experiencing strong growth in other key markets globally.

Visa Direct enables person-to-person (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) payments with funds transfers to recipient accounts taking place within minutes.



For the European roll-out, Visa has partnered with Worldpay to equip merchants with the capability to send real-time payments to consumers. The card scheme is also releasing an API on its developer platform to help bank and merchant clients implement the technology.



To further push take-up, Visa in Europe has announced a mandate that requires card issuers to enable real-time payments by October 2018.



In other global markets where the technology is already available, Visa Direct saw volumes increase by 75% over last year. In the US, the platform enables push payments for a host of partners, including PayPal, Braintree, Square Cash, and Stripe.



Mike Lemberger, SVP of product solutions, Visa in Europe, comments: “Visa Direct is a proven platform that enables technology companies, businesses and financial institutions to meet the demand for real-time payments, backed by the ubiquity, cost-efficiency and speed of Visa’s global network.”