Visa in digital wallet push across Europe

Editorial

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The launches follow a major regulatory change announced by the EU earlier this year under the Digital Markets Act which enables near field communication (NFC) to be applied to third-party wallets for the first time.

In addition, consumer demand for both mobile payments and digital wallets appears to be rising.

According to Visa’s own research, mobile payments now represent more than half (59%) of all e-commerce transactions in Europe, and that figure is expected to rise to three quarters (75%) by 2030. And just under a third (32%) of Europeans say they plan to rely exclusively on mobile wallets for their purchases. 

The projects listed by Visa include a wallet launched with BBVA Pay in Spain that directly integrates Visa’s Token Service; an iOS/Android tap-to-pay service launched with Klarna; a Visa-badged co-wallet with Vipps Mobile Pay which was rolled out across the Nordics; and the 2026 pilot which will aim to make Bancomat, a digital payments scheme designed for the domestic market in Italy, accessible outside of Italy.

According to Visa Europe’s head of product and solutions, the various initiatives are a “major step in giving Europe more choice, more competition and more innovation in mobile wallets”.