Reflecting the move towards consumers being able to pay simply wherever they are, with whatever device they choose, Visa has partnered with players across the mobile and payment industries to offer consumers a choice of secure, state-of-the-art services to help them pay, be paid and manage their money.

Highlights of the last twelve months include:
• Europe's largest commercial mobile contactless payments service confirmed to launch in Spain via Caixabank, Vodafone, Orange and Telefonica in Spain
• The successful launch of Vodafone's SmartPass mobile payments app - the first service for its mWallet - in Spain and Germany, with the UK and Netherlands due to launch from spring 2014
• Orange Cash avec Visa launching in France, making mobile contactless payments available to Orange customers
• Millions of credit card users in Turkey gaining access to NFC payments through Visa Europe's work with Garanti Bank and Turkcell
• A new partnership with Telecom Italia, which will lead to the launch of exciting new mobile payment services across the Italian market, later this year
• 100% increase in the number of merchants signing up for Chip and PIN mPOS, bringing the total number of merchants to over 30,000 across 18 markets

To deliver these and more services Visa works with mobile network operators, banks, retailers, hardware manufacturers and software providers to drive the availability and uptake of mobile payment services around the world.

Mary Carol Harris, Director of Mobile for Visa Europe, said: "Today across Europe consumers have access to a wide range of mobile services. We've worked alongside an incredible set of partners to double the availability of mobile payment services across Europe. We are already seeing mobile payment services gain traction in the UK, for example Visa Personal Payments in which we have 2.7 million active RBS group users. Mobile payments can't be delivered by just one company: it's about creating the technology and also about having the scale to implement it. We sit at the heart of the new ecosystem, allowing our partners to bring mobile payments to life."

Christian Wirtz, Vodafone Group mCommerce Director, said: "We have successfully launched Vodafone Smartpass mobile payments app, the first service for our mWallet, in Germany and Spain, and expect to rollout to the UK, and the Netherlands from this spring. We are delighted to see mobile payments gaining momentum across Europe and we are excited to see what the future holds for our partnership with Visa to put mobile payments services in the hands of our customers."

Helping pave the way for the transition to mobile contactless payments, contactless card use and the supporting infrastructure has grown rapidly. Visa contactless payments are now available in twice as many European countries as this time last year, with almost 80 million Visa contactless cards and 1.3 million terminals. The number of national brands and smaller retailers accepting contactless also continues to grow at a very strong pace.