Visa launches Android person-to-person payments app

Visa Europe introduced an Android application yesterday that lets users send money to other Visa cardholders over their mobile phone, with security measures in place to alert users of possible fraud.

Visa Europe said it is the first in a series of new products it is planning in the mobile payments area, fueled by demand from consumers.

Visa Mobile Person-to-Person Payments allows a person to send money to another Visa cardholder using an address book contact, a mobile phone number or the recipient’s Visa card number, representatives explained. The recipient does not need to be registered with Visa in order to receive the payment to their debit, credit or prepaid card.

The sender needs to have a Visa card issued by a bank which supports the service. Senders also need to register with the service.

Visa Europe said the Android application is English language and will support transfers in one currency for Visa and V Pay — a type of debit card — for European users. The company plans to support other mobile operating systems, currencies and payments to non-European countries in the following months.

Visa Europe launched Person-to-Person Payments with a security feature called Visa Alerts, which sends real-time notifications to a person when their card has been used. The alerts — sent by either SMS (Short Message Service) or email — can be triggered when a person makes an overseas transaction, withdraws money from an ATM or buys something online, Visa said.

Both of the new services were developed by Visa with Monitise Group, a mobile banking technology developer based in the U.K. The services will be available to Visa member banks starting next month.

Visa Europe and Monitise Group declined interview requests about the products.