Payment
Today, Visa Inc. and Visa Europe are separate, independently operating companies, with Visa Europe operating in Europe with an exclusive, irrevocable license in perpetuity. Visa Europe is owned and governed by its European member financial institutions, so as to be best positioned to serve a borderless payment market in Europe, meet the goals of its member financial institutions, consumers and merchants, and support the European Union’s vision of a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
PayPal allows any business or individual with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Their network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution. They deliver a product ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants, individuals and others currently underserved by traditional payment mechanisms.
The size of their network and widening acceptance of their product have helped them become one of the leading payment networks for online auction websites, including eBay. PayPal is also being increasingly used on other ecommerce sites for the sale of goods such as electronics and household items, the sale of services such as web design and travel, and the sale of digital content. Offline businesses, including lawyers, contractors and doctors, have increasingly begun to receive payments online through PayPal. PayPal’s service, which lets users send payments for free, can be used from computers or web-enabled mobile phones.
MasterCard is a global payments and technology company that connects billions of consumers, thousands of financial institutions, millions of merchants, governments and businesses worldwide. MasterCard is a technology company and payments industry leader. For more than four decades, we have been a driving force at the heart of commerce, making the global economy safer, more efficient, more inclusive and more transparent for all. Consumers, merchants, business partners and governments in markets around the world have reaped the benefits of our innovative products and solutions which, simply put, are designed to make life easier.
With the Maestro logo on your card, you can use the money in your account securely through a global network of ATMs, shops and websites to pay for things. It also means you’ll always have exactly the right amount to pay, at exactly the right time, wherever you are – from your local supermarket to a petrol station across the border – in fact, in over 13m locations around the world in 100 countries. And because it’s a debit facility, you can never spend more with your Maestro card than you have in your bank account.
