From July 2003, banks within the Eurozone will no longer be able to charge more for low value (below €12,500) EU cross-border transfers than they do for domestic transfers. Visa claims that its new service, to be known as Visa Direct, will provide member banks with a ready-made, low-cost means of complying with the new regulations.
According to the company, the participating banks will not need to develop additional software, because Visa Direct can plug into their already existing IT systems. The technology behind the service is provided by software firm Clear2Pay.
Visa said in a statement that its new service allows customers to transfer money in all major currencies straight to the beneficiary's account, with the sender only needing to know the recipient's e-mail address.
Visa Direct will initially be open to any Visa EU cardholder, but it will be widened to other Visa regions and payment schemes in the future.
The company also said that Visa Direct has an extensive fraud and anti-money laundering capability built in to the system to comply with EU and domestic money laundering regulations.