Visa is working with Banco do Brasil to enable the bank's cardholders to pay with their mobile phone and confirm the transactions via text message. The service is accessible through all Brazilian mobile carriers, with VisaNet Brasil running the deployment of the technology.

The card network has also teamed with Shinhan Bank, Korea Telecom Freetel and Korea Smart Card Company - which supplies T-money contactless travel cards similar to London's Oyster - to enable commuters to use their Visa account to top up their T-money balances automatically on the phone's SIM card when it falls below a certain level.

Over the past year the card network has embarked on mobile pilots in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Malaysia, Spain, Taiwan and the UK.

Last month it partnered with PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, US Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo in the US, along with Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial and Vancity to pilot an automated alerting system that will notify cardholders of transaction activity via SMS text message and e-mail.

The pilot, which will involve up to 2000 cardholders, will test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on card accounts. Participants will receive alerts via e-mail or text within seconds of their cards being used, rather than hours or days.

Visa has also teamed with Chase Bank in the US on a consumer pilot that will enable credit and debit cardholders to receive merchant offers and discounts via SMS text message.

Elizabeth Buse, global head of product, Visa, says "As the payments ecosystem has expanded, so has Visa's opportunity to deliver innovative products and services to a diverse set of stakeholders."