Visa, the global leader in digital payments technology, announced its plans to launch QR payments in Bangladesh, enabling consumers to link their credit, debit and prepaid cards to their mobile banking apps to ‘scan and pay’ for their purchases.
Visa is working with various banks and partners across the country to enhance the acceptance of digital payments. The cardholders of these participating banks can make payments through QR codes at merchant locations by using their mobile banking application. Consumers will soon be able to make QR payments at both retail stores and on e-commerce websites. Merchants can accept these payments by simply displaying a QR code in their stores or on their mobile phones.
Announcing the launch, TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India, and South Asia said, “Visa has always been committed to the growth of digital payments in Bangladesh. Acceptance is critical to the growth of digital payments and we believe it must grow in tandem with issuance.
With our new QR solution, cardholders can use their existing Visa credentials to pay by QR at any merchant location that accepts QR payments, in store and online. Merchants too get the benefit of low cost acceptance and that will drive faster adoption in everyday payment categories like retail and restaurants, thereby simplifying the payment experience for consumers, acquirers and issuers.”
Recently, Visa has also made online payments simpler for consumers on major ecommerce merchant websites by enabling Card on File (COF). This feature enables a user to save their card details securely online, leading to faster checkout when shopping on the website, without the need to enter card details every time.
Visa will soon be launching a slew of services including Visa Direct. This allows consumers to use their Visa credentials to deliver funds directly to financial accounts conveniently and real-time. Apart from retail payments, Visa is also planning to offer commercial payment solutions to help businesses streamline their payments and move away from voluminous cash transactions.
Ever since commencing operations in Bangladesh, Visa has continued to expand its footprint among clients and merchant partners. It is currently associated with 44 banks comprising public sector banks, domestic private banks, foreign banks and over 40,000 merchants, and helps them offer debit, credit, commercial and prepaid services to Bangladeshis across the country. Visa plays an important role in the proliferation of digital payments, including introducing the first ever contactless card in Bangladesh last year, to mark 30 years of providing financial services to the country.
Commenting on Visa’s recent initiatives in BD, TR Ramachandran also said, “Following this, we are also bringing other new products to the Bangladesh market to make payments frictionless, seamless and more secure. We are building strong partnerships with new-age payment enablers and fintechs to bring asset-light, seamless payment methods to the consumer. Visa will continue to help digitize the Bangladesh market and bring world class products to its consumers.”