Visa (NYSE:V) continually looks for ways to make paying with their cards/accounts more convenient for consumers. The company is also striving to improve the process of moving money between countries and between bank accounts. These efforts will help drive above- average growth for the company for many years.
Visa's high margins, healthy balance sheet, and strong cash flow are the results of the company's efforts and position as a duopoly with their peer, Mastercard (MA). The factors driving the financials are Visa's efforts for growth. Those efforts includes innovating current products, growing in current and new regions, and through acquisitions.
Visa Driving Convenience for Consumers
The recent innovation to enable tap-and-pay contact-less cards for some NY City subways and buses is an example of how Visa finds ways to increase the usage of their cards. The company is making a fast way to pay with the same technology that they implemented in retail stores.
The NY effort makes the paying process convenient and encourages riders to use their Visa cards to pay for rides. Visa can expand these efforts to more routes and other cities. The company can also apply it to many other payment scenarios beyond retail stores. Technology from Square (SQ), for example, allows for contact-less payments that can be used at what used to be cash-only transactions such as: flea markets, bars, produce stands, craft sales, etc.
Paying with the chip technology where you insert your card into the reader takes a little longer than swiping to pay. Visa solved this issue and increased convenience with the contact-less tap-to-pay technology which uses NFC communication for transactions. Contact-less payments are just as secure as the chip insert method because a one-time code protects your payment information. The contact-less payment technology should be attractive to retailers as it can help
