Nigerian banks are to launch Visa Electron, the revolutionary new generation debit or credit cards, that combines the ease-of-use for daily purchases with enhanced security, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
The new card Visa Electron card will be making its debut by May, and will be pioneered by three banks that are actively involved in the use of Visa.
The Visa Electron card will help cardholders to stay within the imposed budget.
The Visa Electron platform to be powered by ValuCard plc is designed for bank customers as well as consumers who want access to a debit or credit product, even if they are new customers with no proven banking relationships or long credit history.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the introduction of Visa Electron is designed by the issuing banks to ignite activity in the e-payment space which became dull after the expiration of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive to banks and switching companies to upgrade to Chip and Pin technology.
Visa Electron unlike other Visa cards is designed for domestic use only, and will be accepted by all Europay MasterCard and Visa (EMV) enabled payment channels such as ATMs and Point of Sale terminals.
It would be recalled that CBN has been making effort to safeguard transactions through electronic payment system in order to reduce human interference and enthrone a cashless economy.
To this end, the CBN has implemented such policies as putting limit to the amount of money that can be paid through cheque while payments above the limit should be done through e-payment.
It has also licensed some ATM consortiums to deploy and manage offsite ATMs in strategic locations in the country.