Visa has installed its payWave application on Russia's popular Qiwi e-wallet, putting mobile contactless payments into the hands of millions of Russian consumers.
The co-branded Visa/Qiwi wallet uses cloud-based HCE technology to bring mobile payments to NFC-enabled devices operating on Android 4.4 or higher for use in stores across Russia and worldwide.
The Visa Qiwi Wallet account can be topped up in any of more than 100,000 QIWI kiosks throughout Russia, by linking a bankcard, or from a mobile phone account. The contactless Visa payWave solution is pre-installed in the new version of the e-wallet.
Qiwi currently claims 17.3 million users for its mobile e-wallet, while over the past year, the number of transactions made with Visa payWave in Russia has increased four times and volumes seven-fold.
Andrew Torre, country manager for Visa Russia, comments: "In Сemea, Russia ranks first in terms of the penetration of contactless payments made with Visa payWave cards. These facts convincingly prove that this technology is popular among cardholders, primarily due to its convenience and security. All you need to do is to hold your Visa payWave card or, now, your smartphone with the Qiwi Visa Wallet app installed, up to the terminal."