Visa to launch mobile wallet for U.S. banks
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Visa Inc, the world's largest credit and debit card processing network, is building a mobile wallet that people can use to pay for things with their phones instead of with traditional cards.
The network said Wednesday it is working with several large U.S. and international banks to develop the wallet. Its partners include US Bancorp, PNC Financial Services , Regions Financial, BB&T Corp, Toronto Dominion's TD Bank and the U.S. arm of Barclays PLC .
The "digital wallet" will store the banks' customers' credit and debit card account information, both for Visa cards and other cards. People can use the wallet to pay for things online or in stores, Visa said.
It will roll out the wallet in the United States and Canada in fall of 2011.
Like smaller rival MasterCard Inc, the San Francisco-based company is increasingly looking to new technology for growth, in the face of an increasing saturated U.S. credit and debit card market and tightening regulations of that market. (Reporting by Maria Aspan, editing by Dave Zimmerman)