- Bill Sheley, who is a senior vice president at Visa Direct, said that clarity was vital for consumers.
- He said that improving the customer experience of payments is becoming more and more important.
- The interview comes in the context of Visa’s expanded efforts in the online money transfer sector.
A senior figure at the financial services institution Visa has used an interview with the finance press to emphasise the importance of clarity when it comes to cross-border payments.
Bill Sheley, who serves as a senior vice president at Visa and as the global leader of Visa Direct, used an interview with PYMNTS.com to explain his thoughts on the current state of the payments industry.
One area he focused on was the issue of foreign exchange rates – something that many providers in the international money transfer space often attempt to offer competitive or at least open rates on when making their customer pitches.
He said that the key aim here was to reduce the amount of uncertainty that customers face.
“The big thing here is providing a sense of certainty, and a level of clarity and transparency,” he said.
He went on to describe how steady and relatively predictable forex rates were likely to be well-received by customers.
“This fits into the ability to create a global, frictionless payment environment for consumers and small businesses,” he added.
The interview with Sheley went on to cover a range of other topics, including the wider context of online money transfers.
He made the argument that distance is now a less common factor in purchasing decisions.
However, the quality of the payment process is rising in salience.
“If you look at the rising number of marketplaces, and the ability for global sellers to participate in these marketplaces, the barriers to getting different types of goods and services – whether they’re domestic or in the country next door or across the globe – are coming down,” he said.
Visa has long since been an important global player in the international money transfer sphere and is a well-recognised brand in the sector.
It offers a range of financial services pertaining to payments, including electronic payments, transaction processing and more.
In recent months, it has revealed a series of partnerships with other organisations in the sector.
One example of this was its collaboration with TransferWise, which was announced last year.
As part of this arrangement, TransferWise was designated as a Visa remittance partner.
It has also proven itself to be willing to use its might in the sector to stymie payments projects it turns against.
It was, for example, part of the original ‘Association’ group for Facebook’s proposed crypto-powered payments vehicle Libra.
However, it later pulled out citing concerns over whether or not the Association could meet regulatory expectations.
If you would like to find out more about what’s happening in the online money transfer world, all you have to do is visit our news section and check out some more articles.
