Visa has announced new capabilities across Visa Accept and Visa Direct aimed at expanding how smartphones can be used to accept and send digital payments. This will help small businesses manage transactions without requiring additional payment hardware.
The new capabilities are designed to make it easier for businesses to accept customer payments and make payouts using devices they already own.
“Every tap, scan and swipe is now a defining moment in the customer relationship, and small businesses can’t afford for payments to get in the way,” said Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Visa.
“We see a future where a single smartphone is all a seller needs to accept any way customers want to pay, gain powerful insights and confidently run their business, so they can spend less time on payment friction and more time creating the experiences that keep customers coming back,” Khan added.
According to Visa, the updates come as more commerce shifts to smartphones, with businesses increasingly looking for simple ways to accept payments from cards and digital wallets while also managing customer interactions and payouts from a single device.
Visa cited findings from its Global SMB Macro Trends Report showing that 99% of surveyed small and medium-sized businesses use at least one digital financial tool, while 85% say those tools have positively impacted their business.
Visa Accept enables sellers to use a smartphone as a payment terminal, allowing customers to tap their cards or pay through payment links without the merchant needing dedicated point-of-sale hardware.
The solution is designed to provide faster access to funds while maintaining the security and dispute protections associated with Visa card payments.
Visa said the service is currently available in more than 25 countries and is already live with several banking partners. In Africa, Co-op Bank Kenya, alongside banking partners in Ghana, is expected to launch Visa Accept in the coming weeks.
Visa also announced enhancements to Visa Direct, its money movement platform, allowing businesses to use the same smartphone they rely on for receiving payments to send payouts.
The platform enables businesses to pay employees, contractors and drivers, issue customer refunds and incentives, and transfer funds across borders to eligible cards, bank accounts and digital wallets through participating banking and fintech platforms.
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Also Read: Nuvion Partners with Visa Direct to Accelerate Real-Time Cross-Border Payments for Businesses