Visa has announced the European launch of Visa Direct – a real-time payments platform that allows companies to leverage Visa’s global reach and scale to transform domestic and cross-border payments for businesses and consumers. Visa is working with payment service providers, financial institution clients and strategic partners to roll out services using Visa Direct.

Visa Direct enables person-to-person (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) payments. With Visa Direct, funds can be transferred into the recipient’s Visa account quickly, conveniently, and securely – providing instant access to funds2 and the ability to make purchases at 44 million retail locations worldwide.

Visa has partnered with Worldpay, a global leader in payments processing technology and solutions for merchants, to accelerate the availability of Visa Direct to merchants in Europe and subsequently across all of its markets globally. Once recipient banks make required changes to their systems, 3 Visa Direct will enable Worldpay’s merchants to send real-time payments to consumers – improving customer satisfaction.

“For decades, Visa has led the way in transforming the way we pay in stores and online. Now, we have an opportunity to transform how consumers and business pay each other in a fast, convenient and secure way,” said Mike Lemberger, Senior Vice President of Product Solutions, Visa in Europe. “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.”

Dave Glaser, Chief Product Officer, Global eCom at Worldpay said: “In recent years, the payments landscape has changed dramatically with clients and consumers alike expecting to be able to make a payment under their own terms – whether that is making a real-time payment or using a specific method. We are proud to be working with Visa on this unrivalled platform as an early adopter in Europe and other global markets and believe that Visa Direct is an important step in meeting those needs – providing both acquirers and merchants with the tools they need.”

Visa Direct is expected to transform payments in Europe by enabling a range of real-time payment use cases backed by the security and scale of Visa’s global payment network, including:

• Business-to-consumer: enabling businesses to send almost any kind of payment directly to a Visa account – such as gaming winnings, insurance payouts, and daily merchant settlements.
• Business-to-business: enabling businesses to pay freelancers, contractors, and other small businesses – in real time.
• Person-to-person: enabling consumers to pay each other quickly, conveniently, and securely, often through their connected devices – such as when splitting bills or giving gifts.

In the US, Visa Direct is already enabling payments for partners such as PayPal, Braintree, Square Cash, and Stripe.

Visa Direct is one of the many Application Program Interface (API)-based network capabilities available on the Visa Developer Platform – an open platform intended to drive innovation in payments and commerce. The platform is designed to help financial institutions, merchants, and technology companies meet the demands of consumers and merchants who increasingly rely on connected devices to shop, pay, and get paid.