Visa has acquired mobile banking and payment software services provider Fundamo. Visa has also announced a long-term commercial agreement with mobile banking software provider Monitise. The investments will accelerate the execution of Visa’s global strategy to provide enhanced payments services. The combination of acquiring Fundamo and expanding the contract with Monetise will enable Visa to deliver mobile financial services and payments services to consumers across the full spectrum of uses, geographies and mobile environments from basic services on simple handsets to more advanced services for smartphone owners. The combined Visa Fundamo platform will add enhanced functionality and new services to existing mobile financial services subscribers across Africa, Asia and Latin America for safe and globally accepted payments systems. It will expand the utility of closed-loop systems, enable them to be interoperable, make financial services available to more consumers and offer merchants access to new customers. Fundamo CEO Hannes van Rensburg and the Fundamo management team will continue to manage current and future Fundamo implementations as members of Visa’s mobile product organisation. Visa will pay approximately USD 110 million in cash. The acquisition is slightly dilutive to Visa’s earnings per share in its fiscal year 2011 ending 30 September.
Monitise’s expertise in customising mobile applications for a range of phone models and operating systems enables Visa to virtualise existing Visa accounts on mobile phones and offer Visa account holders globally an array of payment types. One key focus of this alliance is the introduction of new mobile services to existing Visa account holders outside the US that enable electronic payments on the go to meet consumers’ daily needs, including mobile top-up, utility payments and transit ticketing. In addition, Monitise and Visa will launch a mobile banking service in the US for clients of Visa DPS, Visa’s debit and prepaid processing platform. This service is designed to enable Visa clients and processing partners in the US to offer their customers a suite of services, such as mobile payments, person-to-person payments, mobile transaction alerts and mobile marketing offers.
