IBS Journal May 2016


EDITOR’S NOTE THE LONESOME DEATH OF V.ME BY VISA


YOU COME IN ON YOUR OWN AND YOU LEAVE ON YOUR OWN. SO SANG BRITISH ROCK BAND THE VERVE, WAY BACK IN THE 1990S. THAT PARTICULARLY CHEERFUL LYRIC SPRANG TO MIND WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE DEATH OF VISA’S V.ME DIGITAL WALLET.


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Senior Editor Scott Thompson Scott.Thompson@ibsintelligence.com


first UK financial institution to roll-out V.me for online shopping in 2013, has been forced to pull the plug. In a message to customers, it stated: ‘Just to let you know that from 30 March you won’t be able to access your V.me digital wallet to make payments. This is because the service is being stopped across all suppliers.’


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The digital wallet arrived in a blaze of hype and last year Visa Europe said it had secured commitment from 55% of the UK’s issuance base, accounting for more than 60 million card holders, and thousands of retailers to commercially roll-out V.me at scale.


Wendy Martin, Executive Director, V.me by Visa, enthused:


“A recent study by Accenture found that almost half of consumers surveyed plan to increase the number of their online purchases in the future, so we think that the V.me digital payment service is as important for the online environment as contactless is in the face-to-face environment. The uptake of the service by retailers and banks across the country will further enable frictionless commerce, making online shopping – particularly checking out – easier, quicker and safer for the consumer, reducing the abandonment rate for merchants.”


ationwide Building Society, which was the


But we all know that payments change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long and winding road, strewn with obstacles. Alas, V.me suffered from limited support from UK banks (only Nationwide and AIB implemented it). The service also changed the commercial relationship between Visa and the issuers. It suddenly became a supplier of outsourced IT services. That proved to be problematic.


Anyway, Visa Europe has now quietly dropped it in favour of Visa Inc’s Visa Checkout offering, which is essentially V.me 2.0. And everything, we’re told, will now be awesome. Checkout has been launched in 16 countries since its introduction in July 2014, with usage growing to more than 11 million consumer accounts and acceptance by 250,000- plus merchants. This is the one; digital payments are about to go mainstream. Frictionless commerce ahoy! I can feel it in my bones…


And another thing! IBS Journal has been redesigned; we’ve


revamped the layout, overhauled the front cover and added various new sections, including Startup of the month, Who’s said what and monthly interviews with senior execs at banks and technology vendors. You can let me know your thoughts on the revamp at the email address above. Look forward to hearing from you.


www.ibsintelligence.com


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