The service, with ‘click-to-buy functionality, will be first launched in the US and Canada, with the cooperation of major card issuers, banks, credit unions and retailers.
The platform is also enabled for near-field communication (NFC) mobile payments for when, or if, the platform ever kicks off. Until then, consumers will more likely use Visa’s digital wallet in their desktop or mobile browsers.
Visa Canada head of products Mike Bradley said what that comes with is a place for customers to be able to centralize their credit, debit and pre-paid card information in a single secure location.
"A customer could add any card they choose to the wallet, including competing cards such as MasterCard or American Express," Bradley said.
In extending the wallet model to online shopping, Visa would compete with eBay’s PayPal and Google’s Checkout, both of which allow users to add multiple cards and use them to pay on various sites.
MasterCard and a consortium formed by phone companies T-Mobile USA, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless have plans for their own wallets.
