At launch, the new Visa Developer platform will offer access, via APIs, to some of the card network's most popular payment technologies and services, including account holder identification, P2P payment capabilities, in-store and online payment services such as Visa Checkout, currency conversion and transaction alerts.

Developers get access to a portal for searching Visa’s suite of payment products and services; an open platform that provides access to hundreds of Visa APIs and software development kits; a testing sandbox that offers application developers a plug and play experience, as well as access to Visa test data; and engagement centres designed to foster collaboration and co-creation with application developers in key markets like San Francisco, Dubai, Singapore, Miami and São Paulo.

"As the leader in payments we have an opportunity to transform global commerce by opening-up access to our global network and supporting our clients, industry partners and innovators in their pursuit of creating new, easier and more secure ways to pay," says Charlie Scharf, CEO, Visa. "Visa Developer represents not only a new access point to our network, but a new distribution platform for Visa products and services globally."

Capital One, National Australia Bank, Scotiabank, Tsys and US bank are among a host of firms to have already taken place in beta trials of the new platform.

Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer, US Bank, says: "Banks and collaborators in the FinTech industry that are committed to delivering customers faster, more efficient and secure financial services need to test, learn and deploy new ideas quickly in order to remain competitive. Collaboration is key, and the developer portals and tools offered by Visa enable US Bank to bring new ideas to reality for our customers more quickly and with less development investment than traditional approaches."