Visa International has completed interoperability testing of its Visa Cash electronic purse system, successfully conducting dual currency transactions across terminals in the US and Spain.
Visa says the completion of the project, codenamed Columbus, paves the way for e-purse loading and spending on the same card at Visa cash terminals worldwide. For the frequent traveler, the cross-border Visa Cash purse will eliminate the need to carry coins and bills in multiple currencies, claims the card organisation.
For the project, Visa tested the interoperability of two different Visa Cash technologies based on the Common Electronic Purse Specification (CEPS). Visa Cash cards issued in Spain by Sermepa were used in terminals in the United States while cards issued in the US by Visa International were used in Spanish terminals.
Both Visa Cash cards contained two different currencies, US dollars and euros. Funds in each currency were loaded onto the cards, from a linked bank account and from an unlinked account. In addition, funds in one currency were successfully converted to the second currency. As well as making purchases, the ability to cancel a purchase was also successfully tested, as was the ability to clear and settle all load and purchase transactions through VisaNet.
Visa says it worked with nine international vendors and suppliers to test interoperability, including CardBase Technologies, Diebold, Gemplus, IFS International, Ingenico, Inovant, PBS, Sermepa, and Thales.