Visa believes the CyberSource acquisition will result in enhanced ecommerce capabilities. As ecommerce increasingly migrates to mobile devices, the combination of both companies’ technology and services will position Visa to lead in mobile commerce, the company claims.

“The acquisition of CyberSource is an important step in Visa’s commitment to deliver an enhanced value proposition to merchants, financial institutions and consumers,” said Gerry Sweeney, head of global ecommerce and authentication at Visa, San Francisco.

“Visa is actively collaborating within the mobile and financial industries to deliver the next generation of mobile payment and related services,” he said.

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to digital currency.

CyberSource services enable electronic payment processing for Web, call center and point of sale. CyberSource clients include British Airways, Home Depot, Facebook and Google.
 
Mobile acquisition
Both companies claim the agreement will help merchants increase revenue through global growth while minimizing monetary loss from fraud and provide them with fast and efficient connectivity to multiple payment networks, including Visa.

The agreement is said to accelerate the growth of the ecommerce category and increase the usage of Visa debit, prepaid and credit products for online and mobile purchases.

The service will also feature fraud management and increase the adoption of CyberSource’s secure payment data hosting services to address a growing merchant need.

Mobile past
This is not Visa’s first foray into mobile commerce.

Last month, Visa teamed up with Wells Fargo & Co. to launch Rapid Alerts for Wells Fargo Visa credit cardholders.

Consumers can manage and track their spending and be provided with near real-time detection of potentially fraudulent activity (see story).

Additionally, last year Visa and Chase tested the viability of mobile coupons with the bank’s credit and debit cardholders in the Phoenix, AZ, metropolitan area (see story).

“The increasing sophistication of mobile technology and growing consumer demand for mobile services represent a burgeoning opportunity for Visa’s innovation culture,” Mr. Sweeney said.

According to Visa, mobile commerce is enhancing the consumer purchase experience by letting them make mobile Internet purchases using Web-enabled smartphones, or making money transfers using a mobile device.

In addition, value-added services, such as transaction alerts that let consumers better manage their financial accounts or merchant offers sent directly to their mobile devices are enabling the growth of mobile commerce.

“As ecommerce increasingly migrates to mobile devices, we believe the combination of Visa and CyberSource will position Visa to lead in mobile commerce,” Mr. Sweeney said.