V Pay is a

Single Euro Payments Area The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro. , there were 36 members in SEPA, consisting of the 27 member states of the European Union ...

(SEPA)

debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term '' plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credit card, but ...

for use in Europe, issued by

Visa Europe Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cred ...

. It uses the EMV

chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

and PIN system and may be co-branded with various national debit card schemes such as the German

Girocard girocard is an interbank network and debit card service connecting virtually all German ATMs and banks. It is based on standards and agreements developed by the German Banking Industry Committee. German girocards are usually co-branded with Mast ...

or Italy's PagoBancomat.

Overview

The V Pay debit card system competes with the

Mastercard Maestro Mastercard Maestro is a brand of debit cards and prepaid cards owned by Mastercard that was introduced in 1991. Maestro is accepted at around fifteen million point of sale outlets in 93 countries. Starting July 1, 2023, Mastercard will phase ...

debit card product. However, unlike Mastercard Maestro, V Pay cards cannot be used in non-EMV environments, limiting its acceptance to those countries and merchants that use this system. Also unlike Mastercard Maestro, which is issued and accepted globally, V Pay is designed as a specifically European product, and is not issued or accepted outside European countries except for some islands which are part of European countries, such as Saint Martin. However, some cards are co-branded with the Visa Electron system, which allows using them outside Europe. V Pay cards began to be accepted at merchants in France and Greece in 2005, and acceptance had since expanded to more European countries. However from 2019, the V Pay system is gradually phased-out in favor of

Visa Debit Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit ...

External links

Official website

References

{{Credit cards Debit cards Visa Inc.