By: Joe Gillen
Digital wallet services have been announced by a handful of companies this year. One of the latest to be unveiled is Visa's V.me wallet, which credit unions that work with FIS have the first opportunity to to sign up for.
Membership through Card Services for Credit Unions will allow credit unions that work with the credit and debit card processor to gain access to the new digital wallet program, which utilizes near-field communication technology, according to the Credit Union Times.
"As online, mobile and physical payment environments converge, we are excited to provide our credit unions and their members access to the next generation of payments solutions with V.me," said CSCU president Robert Hackney.
More than 50 banks and financial institutions in at least seven states have signed up to obtain access to V.me.
Digantam Gurung, industry analyst at CCS Insight, told PC World that Visa has "big plans" related to NFC technology and allowing consumers to make payments via their smartphones and tablets.
Credit unions interested in working with digital wallets may want to reevaluate their banking strategies to see if adopting such technology will help their bottom line. Other mobile wallets to enter the marketplace recently include Google Wallet and Isis from American Express.