During his keynote session, the executive discussed strides the company has taken with mobile. The executive also addressed how Visa is constantly working to help the financially underserved.

“The impact of commerce is profound,” said John Partridge, president of Visa, San Francisco. “The electronification of commerce – marrying money with technology is not a new idea, it’s been a mission Visa has been pursuing for 50 years.

“Today, more than 100 mobile money services are in developing countries,” he said. “We applaud mobile operators for reaching so many people so quickly.”

Serving the underserved
Last year, Visa acquired Fundamo to accelerate delivery of mobile financial services to consumers worldwide.

The acquisition is part of its global strategy to enable the next generation of payments services. Additionally, Visa signed an agreement with Monitise to expand delivery of mobile financial services to banked Visa account holders.

According to Mr. Partridge, as Visa integrates Fundamo’s technology, the company is extending its capabilities and hoping to provide consumers in developing countries with access to their accounts, as well as enable them to send and receive money.

Mobile money will finally make its debut in developed countries in 2012, and one of the drivers behind that is near field communications technology.

Consumers are currently being educated to use their mobile device to pay for their purchases.

V.me, Visa’s own digital wallet that lets consumers make purchases.

“Last year, we introduced V.me by Visa, and it’s putting more money in the hands of consumers,” Mr. Partridge said. “For retailers, this presents an opportunity to provide consumers with an enhanced user experience. “

Mcommerce strides
According to the executive, mobile commerce is growing at an exceptional pace and we are witnessing the next growth phase that could very much mean the end of cash.

NFC technology will change the way consumers make purchases.

Mobile wallets are going to be beneficial for not only retailers but consumers as well.

Consumers are now able to store their credit, debit and loyalty cards on select mobile devices and pay for purchases at the point-of-sale.

“Clearly there’s great momentum surrounding mobile payments today,” Mr. Partridge said.

Final Take