Visa Singapore launches new online payment service

Global payments company Visa has launched its online payment service Visa Checkout in Singapore.The service is currently accepted at online retailers in Singapore such as Golden Village, Spizza, Cold Storage, Guardian, Giant, Aviva and ComGateway. More retailers across a variety of industries, including online travel agency Zuji and supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, are said to come onboard in the next few months, The Straits Times reported.Banks including ANZ, Bank of China, Citibank, DBS, ICBC, Maybank, OCBC, Standard Chartered Bank and UO are also registered with Visa Checkout.Visa Checkout allows Visa customers to save their personal details, including credit card number and address, in an online account, allowing them to make online purchases just by using their username and password. The objective of this is to tackle the hassle of long and cumbersome payment processes in e-commerce transactions.“As more people start to spend more time and money online, particularly using mobile devices, they are also demanding a fast, secure and frictionless way to shop online. Visa Checkout addresses some of the problems faced by online shoppers by reducing the number of steps required for them to complete their online purchases,” said Ooi Huey Tyng, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei.Since its launch in 2014, Visa Checkout has acquired more than 10 million users and onboarded over 240,000 businesses and 600 financial institutions in 16 markets worldwide.Just last week, Visa appointed Lynne Biggar (pictured) as executive vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, effective 1 February. She will also serve as a member of the company’s executive committee and operating committee. Biggar joins Visa from Time Inc. where she was the executive vice president, consumer marketing and revenue.While at Time Inc., Biggar was responsible for marketing to consumers for all Time Inc. brands across all channels, direct marketing company Synapse, Time Inc. Retail, Time Inc. Books, Consumer Insights, Data Solutions and Time Customer Service. Prior to her role at Time Inc.She spent more than 20 years at American Express in a variety of general management and marketing positions in both the US and international divisions and was a member of the company’s global management team. Most recently, she was executive vice president and general manager of international card products and experiences, where she managed a global organisation focused on product management, new product development, travel and lifestyle benefits and servicing.Before joining American Express in 1992 as a marketing manager, she held various international strategy and marketing positions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.Charlie Scharf, Visa’s CEO, said: “Biggar’s extensive global marketing and product experience will be a great complement to our talented marketing and communications team.”