Visa has taken another step towards entering the mobile payments arena.
The company has revealed that it's bought Fundamo, a mobile financial services firm with clients in 20 countries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition is another sign of the importance that financial services providers are placing on the technology.
The option to pay by contactless card is becoming more widespread throughout the UK. Visa Europe said it expects contactless card numbers in the UK to increase from 13 to 20 million by the end of the year.
Support from large businesses will go a long way to increasing the speed at which the technology is rolled out across high street businesses. McDonald's said this week it now has contactless payment technology available at all of its 1,200 restaurants in Britain.
Barclaycard recently began a promotional campaign using television adverts and posters to increase awareness of its own contactless payment service, Quick Tap, developed in partnership with mobile provider Orange. Payments using mobiles with near-field communication capability can be used to pay for goods in 50,000 stores for transactions of up to 15.
