Visa enters international mobile prepaid space

Visa Inc. introduced a prepaid mobile account focused on the financially underserved in developing countries. Visa's first partner for this new enterprise is MTN Group, a telecommunication provider in Africa and the Middle East, that intends to offer the mobile prepaid "wallet" to mobile phone users in Nigeria and Uganda.

"Reaching consumers who have previously lacked access to formal financial services with secure and reliable electronic payments is finally a reality," said Jim McCarthy, Head of Product at Visa. "Mobile technology has become the single most important driver of financial inclusion that is enabling financial institutions, mobile network operators and Visa to connect unbanked consumers to each other and the global economy."

Visa reported that developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America will be among the first target markets for the card brand's new mobile phone-based prepaid product. Visa counts its June 2011 acquisition of Fundamo, a mobile payments platform provider for developing countries, as adding mobile payments functionality to its global payment network, VisaNet.

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