Visa’s technology

Visa’s technology is at the heart of our ability to keep our promise to cardholders, retailers and members. Our investment in building Europe’s best payment system means that we can make money flow, quickly, reliably and securely.

In just a couple of decades the payment needs of European consumers, retailers and banks have changed beyond all recognition. Electronic payments are now fundamental to the health of business, economies and societies. We all expect payments that work securely, whatever the channel, whatever the payment device, every time. Out of date, unreliable systems are simply not an option.
Visa Europe processing services

Visa’s systems connect billions of cardholders with millions of retailers and thousands of banks. We are part of one of the biggest communications networks in the world.

That same technology provides the platform to keep every transaction safe, to support new and innovative ways to pay, to speed up transaction times even as volume grows and above all, to ensure that wherever you are and whatever you are buying, paying by Visa works.

In 2010 we processed an average of around 27 million transactions a day, worth more than €1.5 billion

Every day, our systems are keeping the money moving by:

* Routing and approving millions of authorisation requests – each one delivered in the blink of an eye
* Clearing and settling funds between European banks – calculating what each of the Visa members in Europe owe to each other, right down to the last Euro cent
* Standing in on behalf of our members when things go wrong, for example, making authorisation decisions on their behalf
* Supporting other services such as cardholder authentication, fraud screening and transaction storage and retrieval.

Visa Europe processing services – making life simpler

Our processing services have been built in Europe, for Europe and are controlled and serviced in Europe. Our performance, connectivity and scale are unrivalled.

And because we are owned by our members, we never lose sight of what’s expected of us: a fast, ultra-reliable service that delivers:

* Connectivity: through our network, we’re connected to every Visa member and every payment processor worldwide
* Capacity: our capacity is unlimited and in 2010 we processed around ten billion transactions; at peak time our network handled 1,094 transactions a second
* Continuity: our systems deliver 100 per cent availability
* Compliance: our systems are compliant with domestic, regional and international requirements and flexible enough to accommodate new payment methods
* Cost-effectiveness: our member-owned, not-for-profit model means that Visa Europe is highly competitive and totally transparent.

Sources by : www.visaeurope.com