Visa cosies up to e-purse

Visa International has teamed up with 20 smart card vendors who have agreed to develop offerings based on the Common Electronic Purse Specifications (CEPS).

According to a Visa spokesman, it now has agreement from suppliers of 90 per cent of the world's electronic purse cards to implement CEPS .

The aim of Visa's new partnerships is to achieve common specifications to deliver interoperability of electronic purse systems.

CEPS have been developed by Europay International, Visa Espana/Sermepa, Visa International and ZKA.

Smart card vendors who have agreed to develop CEPS products include ACI Worldwide, Bull, CSI, Dassault, DataCard, De La Rue, Deluxe Data, Diebold, G&D, Gemplus, ICL, IFS International, Ingenico, Landis & Gyr, NCR, Orga, QI Technologies, Racal, Schlumberger, Sema, Trintech, Unisys and Verifone.

According to Malcolm Williamson, Visa International president, "The vendor support announced for the CEPS specifications shows how all sides of the payments industry can work together to achieve a common goal . . . Partnering with the vendor community is imperative if we are to maximise the potential of new technologies."