The announcement was made by Marc O’Brien, Visa Europe’s head of UK and Ireland, during a visit to Dublin to market contactless cards and NFC payment to Irish banks.
According to O’Brien, Visa spent €800 million over the last five years on R&D, out of which €170 million went into chip and PIN.
“[Visa Europe] envisages spending a further €200 million on R&D into low-value contactless payments by card and mobile device,” O’Brien added.
Irish banks Ulster and Halifax have already begun issuing contactless Visa Debit cards, with more to follow as the investment comes to fruition.
Looking to the future, O'Brien said Visa is hard at work researching and developing new ways for people to pay and one of the areas being given serious consideration is contactless payments via mobile phones using near field communication (NFC).
"M-commerce is a strategic priority," says Visa Europe's head of UK and Ireland, "we are working and talking with all the mobile operators and handset manufacturers to develop standards for payment on mobile phones."
O'Brien says Visa spent €800 million over the last five years on R&D, out of which €170 million went into chip and PIN. "We envisage spending a further €200 million on R&D into low-value contactless payments by card and mobile device."
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