The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Visa

  • Visa, Ecobank partner on digital payments

    Visa, a global payments company, has partnered Ecobank to roll out mVisa, an innovative mobile payment service, in 33 African markets by year-end. The service will initially launch in the key markets of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, signaling both firms’ plan to promote mVisa across Sub-Saharan Africa.

    With mVisa, consumers can pay for goods and services for everyday expenses from bill payments to groceries and taxi services, by simply scanning a QR code on a smart phone or entering a merchant identification number into their feature phones.

    mVisa addresses the need for a convenient, low cost acceptance payments service throughout the continent. The informal sector contributes about 55 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP which is largely cash based1.

    With mVisa, merchants are now able to receive electronic payments in a cost-effective way, without the need for point-of-sale terminals. They can receive payments directly into their bank accounts, within minutes of the consumer making a payment and provides real-time notification to both parties. Unlike other mobile payment services mVisa can also handle refunds and charge backs, so if a merchant needs to refund a consumer, mVisa can facilitate this.

  • Visa, Ecobank collaborate on digital payments

    Visa, Ecobank collaborate on digital payments

    Visa, a global payments company, has partnered Ecobank to roll out mVisa, an innovative mobile payment service, in 33 African markets by year-end. The service will initially launch in the key markets of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, signaling both firms’ plan to promote mVisa across Sub-Saharan Africa.

    With mVisa, consumers can pay for goods and services for everyday expenses from bill payments to groceries and taxi services, by simply scanning a QR code on a smart phone or entering a merchant identification number into their feature phones.

    mVisa addresses the need for a convenient, low cost acceptance payments service throughout the continent. The informal sector contributes about 55 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP which is largely cash based1.

    With mVisa, merchants are now able to receive electronic payments in a cost-effective way, without the need for point-of-sale terminals. They can receive payments directly into their bank accounts, within minutes of the consumer making a payment and provides real-time notification to both parties. Unlike other mobile payment services mVisa can also handle refunds and charge backs, so if a merchant needs to refund a consumer, mVisa can facilitate this.

    “Visa is a globally recognised brand. We are, therefore, excited to accelerate the growth of digital payments in partnership with them. Our joint objective is to leverage mVisa to underpin a robust mobile payments ecosystem that will make financial inclusion, at an affordable and sustainable price point, a reality across our markets,” Ade Ade Ayeyemi, the Group CEO of Ecobank, said.

    Consumers can also make payments to other individuals (person-to-person or P2P) and Ecobank’s branchless banking agents will be able to do cash-in-cash-out transactions across the region.

  • Visa takes lucky winner to Rio Olympic Games

    Visa takes lucky winner to Rio Olympic Games

    Visa has rewarded Effiong Eneh Bassey and 30 other cardholders who participated in the “e-commerce campaign” organised by the company.

    Bassey won an all-expense paid trip to Rio 2016 Olympics while others were rewarded with N50, 000 shopping voucher each.

    The campaign, which kicked off in May, was designed to encourage card holders to activate their visa cards on the Verified by Visa platform.

    Verified by Visa is a password-protected authentication system designed to confirm the identity of the cardholder when a Visa card is used online. A password is requested from only the cardholder to help the bank verify that the genuine cardholder is entering their card information into an e-commerce website.

    The cardholders who participated in the campaign spent a minimum of N10, 000 on a local or international website. A total of 50, 000 cardholders participated in this campaign, 31 winners were randomly selected by an electronic draw.

    Representatives from Visa Nigeria, Lagos State Lottery Board, and the Consumer Protection Council were present to ensure a smooth and transparent selection process.

    Senior Business Development Leader, Visa West Africa, Emezino Afiegbe, said “This campaign is aimed at encouraging the use of our cards for online payments and also to drive e-commerce transactions. At Visa, we constantly explore ways to give incentives that will drive the use of cards for payments amongst Nigerians.

    Speaking about the selection process, representative from Consumer Protection Council, Onifade Abideen said; ‘’At CPC we hold the interest of consumers in high esteem that is why we serve as an intermediary between consumers and brands to ensure that all lottery selection process is transparent’’.

  • Fed Govt loses $.39m to visa payment reversals in South Africa

    Nigeria’s Consul-General in South Africa Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke yesterday said the Federal Government lost $39,370 (about N10.9 million) as visa and passport fees at processing centres.

    Okeke told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Johannesburg, South Africa, that the Online Integrated Solutions (OIS), a firm processing passport and visa on behalf of the Nigeria Immigration Service abroad, reported the loss to the consulate.

    ‘’Evidence shows a recent compilation of 254 online payment fraudulent reversals of passport applications, which occurred between April and June, 2016.

    “These acts were done by Nigerians to defraud their government,” she said.

    Okeke said the acts were perpetrated through banks.

    She said the South African banking system allowed anyone with a credit card to reverse such payment, if there was a complain, within 30 days.

    “Unfortunately, some Nigerians in South Africa have perfected the act of defrauding the Federal Government by going to the banks to report loss or fraudulent use of such cards and the banks will reverse the payment,” she said.

    The consul-general said “because of speed in service delivery accorded Nigerians by the consulate at the instance of the Federal Government, the passport would have been produced”.

    According to her, Nigerians will pay online; collect the passports within the stipulated 30 days with the passports in their pockets, go back to the bank and reverse the payments.

    Okeke said it’s unfortunate some Nigerians defrauded the government through such acts in a foreign land.

    “The consulate has compiled a list of those involved and sent to Abuja. The Nigeria Immigration Service will decide whether those passports will be cancelled or withdrawn,” she said.

    She said the mission recorded 58 reversals of online visa payments between April and June, 2016.

    The envoy added that South African visa applicants reported they paid a Nigerian agent to process for them.

    “The Nigerian agent will collect cash from the applicants, use his credit card to pay and reverse the payment thereafter,” she explained.

    She said the consulate was on top of the situation and that soon the Immigration Service would be advised on measures taken to deal with the situation.

  • Visa to announce Q3 financial results

    Visa to announce Q3 financial results

    Visa Incorporated will report its fiscal third quarter 2016 financial results on Thursday, July 21. According to Yahoo report, the results, along with accompanying financial information, will be released after market close and posted on the Visa Investor Relations website.

    Visa’s executive management team will then host a live audio webcast to discuss financial results and business highlights.

    All interested parties are invited to listen to the live webcast, while a replay of the webcast will be available on Visa’s Investor Relations website for 30 days.

    Visa is currently in its customary “quiet period” during which time company executives will not be interacting with the investment community. This quiet period will extend until fiscal third quarter 2016 earnings are released.

    Visa Incorporated is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments.

    The firm operates one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead with prepaid or pay later with credit products.

  • Visa reforms to boost FDI, says Immigration boss

    The Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has said the ongoing visa reforms of the Federal Government will not only aid the ease of doing business in Nigeria, but also encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country.

    He stated this during the week while receiving the Turkish Ambassador,  CakilHakan, at the Immigration Headquarters in Abuja.

    Babandede called on Turkish businessmen and other foreign investors to take advantage of the visa-at-port-of-entry facility, also known as visa-on-arrival, to do business in Nigeria.

    A statement signed by NIS Public Relations Officer Ekpedeme King Babandede explained that the visa   issued at the country’s international airports, was introduced by the Federal Government as part of the measures to boost FDI.

    According to Babandede, “in order to encourage ease of doing business in Nigeria, the Immigration Act 2015 has given the CGI the powers to issue such visas to investors, frequently travelled business persons of international repute, executive directors of multinational companies, members of government delegations as well as holders of United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Laissez-Passer”.

    The Act, the CGI explained, also empowers him to issue Permanent Residence Visas to foreign nationals, who according to him, are married to Nigerians and to foreign investors, who have imported an annual minimum threshold of capital over a period of time.

    Babandede said the agency intends to use the Visa reforms expeditiously and transparently in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance on public accountability, adding that he has constituted a committee to clearly articulate the visa reforms to enable the service sensitise the public appropriately.

    Earlier, the Turkish Ambassador, CakilHakan, lauded the cordial relationship between Nigeria and his country.

    He said Nigeria was the first country in Africa to host a Turkish Mission and that about 25,000 Nigerians arrived Istanbul in 2015, out of which 18,000 were issued online visas.

  • Visa: let’s change the narrative

    When last week, I wrote about the inability of organisers and participants from South Africa for a media fellowship seminar to get Nigeria Visa to attend the programme, I didn’t recon with anger of some Nigerians who have been denied or have harrowing experience getting South African Visa.

    The feedback I got from some readers was that the South Africans got what they deserved. ” The South Africans are mean. If you know how they treat Nigerians who apply for their Visa and continue to do till recently, you will not sympathise with them in anyway,” a top media executive said.

    Another reader noted that the inability of the South Africans to get the the visa for the trip could be a continuation of the “un-unending war” between the two countries.

    I understand the anger against South Africa over Visa. I once almost narrowly missed attending a conference in Cape Town due to delay in getting my Visa for the trip. For days, I kept going to the former South Africa embassy in Lagos to join the long queue of applicants left the sun unattended to for hours until the day before my travel.

    I have also been told of Nigerian students and other nationals who have been denied Visas after getting admission and fees some applicants have to pay as a guarantee that they will return.

    However, based on the ease with which I and other Nigerian fellows on the the fellowship programme got our visas to travel to South Africa, every indication is that the South Africans have upgraded their processing of visas as another lady noted in her own response to my piece.

    Unlike before, I don’t have to go the South African embassy to queue. All we did was submit our application through the VFS global Visa and Passport processing service and we got our visas in less than two weeks.

    Considering the status of the South African applicants and travel record in this case, I want to agree with another reader who said the problem could be more of incompetence and unnecessary bureaucracy by our officials and not retaliation for whatever South Africa must has done in the past. Why should the approval of the applications remain unattended to for weeks when other nations have adopted easier procedures for processing visas.

    If we are to make progress we simply have to upgrade our processing of visas and stop denying the country of hosting important programmes which Nigerians and the country have a lot to benefit from.

    Undoubtedly, Nigeria and South Africa still have to improve on their status among countries that allows liberal access through visa. Only eleven African countries, excluding Nigeria and South Africa offer liberal access to African countries according to Gender Agenda Council on Africa. Nigeria is no 65 on the table, while South Africa is 74.

    Instead of indulging in any retaliatory measures over visas, it’s time to change the narrative as one those unable to get the visa said and put pressure on the two countries and others to be true brothers and sisters in all ramifications.

    We can’t be be going through all kinds of hassles to get visas to Europe and America and be still be subjected to same experience in the continent.

  • US Consulate welcomes questions on student visas

    The United States Consulate-General in Lagos on Thursday announced plans to host a ‘’Google Hangout’’ that will respond to questions from the public on U.S. student visa application processes.

    The Consulate’s Public Affairs Section said in a statement that a Google Hangout slated for April 26, at 3:00 p.m., would also respond to questions on living and studying in the U.S.

    According to the statement, the google hangout is being organised to dispel misunderstandings and rumour about the process for applying for
    U.S. study visas.

    “The Consulate General in Lagos will host a Google Hangout on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at 3:00 p.m., to respond to questions from the
    public on student visa application processes.

    “This upcoming session is being organised with a view to dispelling myths and rumour about applying to study in the U.S.’’ it said.

    The statement said that the session was a follow-up to the one held in August 2015, which attracted questions from thousands of Nigerians at
    home and abroad.

    It said that this year’s one hour session would be moderated by an On-Air-Personality, Rufai Oseni of Inspiration 92.3 FM, with questions
    directed to two Amercan Consular Officers.

    The statement said that an EducationUSA Advisor would also be on hand to share practical information on the process of obtaining a U.S.
    student visa.

    It advised interested Nigerians and other nationals to tune in to the Live Broadcast via the event page, https://goo.gl/c6k2h7, or log on to
    the U.S. Embassy’s Google+ Profile, (https://goo.gl/c3Zts5).

    The statement also enjoined interested persons to use the YouTube channel, (http://www.youtube.com/USEmbassyNigeria). (NAN)

  • Visa launches Visa Developer

    Visa launches Visa Developer

    Visa Incorporated has announced the launch of Visa Developer, a milestone that transforms the world’s largest retail payments network to an open platform that will drive innovation in payments and commerce.

    For the first time in the company’s nearly 60 year history, software application developers will have open access to industry leading payments technology, products and services by Visa.

    The new Visa Developer platform is designed to help financial institutions, merchants, and technology companies meet the demands of consumers and merchants, who increasingly rely on connected devices to shop, pay and get paid.

    At launch, the new platform will offer access to some of Visa’s most popular payment technologies and services including account holder identification, person-to-person payment capabilities, secure in-store and online payment services such as Visa Checkout, currency conversion and consumer transaction alerts. Visa plans to provide access to more of its payment capabilities over the next year.

    “As the leader in payments we have an opportunity to transform global commerce by opening-up access to our global network and supportingour clients, industry partners and innovators in their pursuit of creating new, easier and more secure ways to pay,” said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa Inc. “Visa Developer represents not only a new access point to our network, but a new distribution platform for Visa products and services globally.”

    Over the past few months leading financial institutions, technology companies, and start-ups have participated in beta trials of the new Visa Developer platform andmany have already created innovative prototype applications using Visa technology.

    Trial partners include Capital One, CIBC, Emirates NBD, National Australia Bank (NAB), RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, TSYS, U.S. Bank and VenueNext. According to a recent Accenture study, FinTech investments reached more than $12 billion globally in 2014.

     

  • VISA rewards winners of free fuel promo

    VISA rewards winners of free fuel promo

    VISA, in partnership with Total Nigeria, has rewarded winners who took part in its free fuel promotion meant to improve e-payment card usage in the country.

    Eight lucky customers out of 1,100 who participated in the grand raffle draw by sending SMS to a short-code, were rewarded with free fuel at any Total service station for a year, with customised Visa card worth N260, 000 and billed to expire in four years given to them.

    Also, 3,500 customers participated in the instant winning of N1,000 worth free fuel available daily to 10 Visa card users who buy petrol worth N3000 and above from any of the seven designated Total service stations in Lagos.

    Country manager, VISA West Africa, Mr. Ade Ashaye at the presentation to the winners, said it is a thing of joy to see the number of Nigerians who participated in the promotion to promote and educate consumers and businesses on the convenience of making payments for fuel and other commodities through e-payment.

    He said the objective is to drive the cashless policy in Nigeria through e-commerce and they understand that card payments are more secure than cash payments for both buyers and sellers, as the challenge is that most people used their card to redraw cash and not to purchase items which is what they aiming to change.

    “It is a pilot scheme and we take the learning’s from it to make the promo better for future events. and even Total operative said he uses the promotion to train his staff  on how to accept card for purchases made as fewer cash transactions but card transactions is the key focus for the promotion”, he added.

    The Network Development Manager, Total Nigeria, Maxence Bourgoing said: “We are happy to work with Visa on this project. Total has invested a lot in ensuring that our service stations are up to international standards and this partnership is certainly a step in the right direction.”

    Bourgoing said globally, there is a drive towards e-commerce and card payments and “we are happy to be at the forefront of this initiative in Nigeria. TOTAL service stations are a key interaction point with our customers and so we promise to continuously offer innovative payment solutions that make purchases as seamless as possible.”