Visa 2015 Annual Report Download - page 5

New Network Access
E-commerce and M-commerce have
provided both the need and the means
to move beyond physical cards and static
account numbers. These experiences can
now also meaningfully affect consumer
shopping behavior. We have to actively
ensure our network is structured to be
the preferred network for those building
experiences in the E- and M-commerce
worlds.
Because of the huge opportunity,
many—be they specific retailers, mobile
device manufacturers, mobile network
operators, social networks, search engines,
or others—are working to integrate
payments to further their own business
objectives. Financial institutions (FIs) are
also working to ensure that they are not
disintermediated from their relationships,
as third parties insert themselves into
the payments flow. At Visa, we are
working to bridge these worlds. Without
FIs issuing our products and using our
network, we aren’t in the game, so we
will pursue opportunities which are
supportive of financial institutions. This
means we support partners who want
to use electronic payments to grow their
underlying business while viewing the
FIs and Visa as partners and encouraging
consumers to maintain and grow their
financial relationships with their FIs.
This is sometimes easier said than done.
The business world is filled with friends
and enemies and we need to differentiate.
Those that support our network and our
FIs’ ability to maintain their customer
relationships, brand prominence, and risk
management protocols are our friends
and will be treated as such. There are
many examples here, including Google,
Samsung, Square, and Stripe.
New Networks
We have faced competition from global
and regional networks for many years.
Going forward, we expect new networks
to continue to emerge. These include
distributed networks based on block chain
technology and also payment alternatives
that use more traditional technology
solutions sponsored by governments,
regulators, banks, and other payments
companies. To successfully compete, we
need to continue to ensure our network is
safe, convenient, and reliable. We also need
to continue to innovate in order to ensure
we have the most value-added features
and benefits of any network. Examples of
recent innovations include:
• Launched new APIs that make it easier
for developers to connect to Visa and
get faster access to our capabilities
• Enhanced our predictive risk modeling
infrastructure
• Created new mobile and biometric
authentication capabilities
• Developed analytic solutions that help
more quickly identify breached entities
• Launched Visa Integrated Marketing
Solutions, a card marketing platform
designed to help small to medium-sized
issuers optimize their marketing efforts
• Created the Visa Commerce Network,
a new way for merchants to grow their
business through relevant consumer
offers
• Piloting Rewards Redemption, a new
product which allows consumers to
use their participating issuer or loyalty
program rewards points toward
purchases at participating everyday
spend merchants
• Providing a range of new data and
analytic capabilities delivered by over
1,200 Visa engineers and analysts