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Visa U.S.A. today unveiled the smart Visa Rewards Platform,
a fully integrated, chip-enabled rewards solution with end-to-end
transaction and servicing capabilities. Vying to significantly
reduce financial, technical and time-to-market burdens currently
faced by card issuers and merchants, Visa's shared-system
initiative is expected to accelerate the adoption of rewards
services on multi-application smart cards.
"Many of the centralized principles that have made the
bankcard system so pervasive in the United States will be
used to help card issuers and merchants implement their own
rewards or customer-retention services in turnkey fashion,"
said Diana Knox, senior vice president of emerging channels
for Visa U.S.A. "By consolidating essential rewards components
that, until now, have been fragmented, the infrastructure
and business framework will be substantially improved."
Building on the success of the smart Visa rewards program
introduced in September 2000, Visa’s new platform is
designed to support a range of customized or proprietary rewards
services among issuers and merchants. Four financial institutions
– First USA, FleetBoston, Providian, and Retailers
National Bank – have issued more than 10 million
smart Visa cards, many of which are enabled for Visa rewards
services.
Unlike previous smart-card initiatives, which focused mostly
on card-application technologies, the smart Visa rewards Platform
brings to market new services that are seamlessly integrated
with VisaÂ’s existing payment infrastructure.
The backbone of the smart Visa rewards Platform is a centrally
hosted computing system that will manage the interaction between
rewards applications on smart cards and software and administration
rules residing on point-of sale terminals.
- Host-computer and telecommunications operations.
- Transaction processing, funds settlement, clearing and
reporting.
- Program set-up for card issuers and merchants.
- Complete implementation support.
- Marketing consulting services, including access to extensive
consumer research.
To support these and other functions being developed in cooperation
with Catuity Inc., a leading developer of software systems,
Visa is working closely with leading processors and acquirers
that serve a number of issuers and merchants nationwide.
"Visa's loyalty platform complements today’s payment
environment," said T. Jack Williams, senior vice president
of Relationship Management for National Processing Company
(NPC). "Given the growing merchant interest in Visa rewards
programs, we consider Visa’s development as a long-term
opportunity to expand the functionality of card acceptance
at the point of sale."
The smart Visa rewards Platform model will enable any combination
of card issuers and merchants to jointly form rewards programs.
"By the very nature of their design, Visa rewards services
must be networked in order to achieve the greatest efficiencies
and synergies. Visa’s shared-system platform will accommodate
multi-company connectivity, thus ensuring that any number
of businesses can easily link their promotional efforts,"
said Patrick Gauthier, senior vice president of smart card
applications for e-Visa U.S.A., a division of Visa U.S.A.
Widely acknowledged among industry experts to be an important
catalyst for U.S.-based smart cards, behavior-driven rewards
services enable card issuers and merchants to efficiently
deliver targeted incentives to their customers. The smart
Visa rewards service, to be supported by the new platform,
features up to 36 concurrent programs for electronic couponing
and punch cards. Cardholders at the point of purchase can
instantly redeem rewards for their frequent patronage.
The smart Visa rewards Platform, designed to seamlessly integrate
payment and rewards transactions at both the physical and
Internet points-of-sale, is expected to be available to card
issuers and merchants later this year.
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