Unlocking Value Beyond Transactions: How Value-Added Services Hold the Key to Future Growth
In today’s digital age, the remarkable transformation of payments and broader commerce continues at pace in CEMEA, just as it does around the world. In turn, business leaders know they need to keep abreast of two major trends at this moment: rapid tech innovation, from smartphone adoption to Gen AI developments, and the evolving demands of digitally native consumers. As digitization transforms how we interact, transact, and conduct business, Value-Added Services (VAS) are playing an increasingly important role in catering to today’s consumers, unlocking new growth opportunities.
Serving the digital consumer
While Visa has long offered services that are Value-Adds, we have now brought our products and solutions under one VAS umbrella. This move is in response to the most pressing needs of our clients and partners, with the aim of providing them with innovative, flexible, and client-centric services.
"Meeting the expectations of digitally native consumers requires a new approach and by leveraging digital-first solutions and capabilities, including cutting-edge AI-powered tools, we can better serve these consumers and drive significant growth." says Walter Lironi, Visa’s Head of Advisory and Value-Added Services for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
With digital payments experiencing year-on-year growth exceeding 32% over the last four years in the CEMEA region1, Visa’s VAS addresses their priorities, enabling digital experiences that are personalized, convenient, secure and trusted.
Enhancing the personalized experience
We know that for today’s consumer, personalization is key. Over 80% of consumers prefer to receive personalized offers2 and prefer to be treated in a way that resonates with their values. Here, VAS can play an essential role in delivering tailor-made experiences. For example, our Consumer Choice Program, delivered via Visa Benefits Management Platform, allows issuers to configure cardholder benefits at a segment level and add their own benefits alongside the standard benefit suite to create truly personalized offers. This approach leads to rise in card spend, better consumer engagement, and overall satisfaction.
The shift towards hyper-personalization, driven by the potential of Gen AI, is set to accelerate. This latest technology is transforming customer experiences into personalized journeys, skilfully anticipating their unique needs and completely redefining what we once knew as ‘shopping altogether’.
Meeting consumers where they want
In an experience economy, convenience is king, with 92% of consumers citing it as a key factor in their buying decisions, second only to price3. They want to be able to use different payment options as they see fit, enjoying immersive, engaging experiences wherever they choose. For instance, Gen Z would be on social media, where they spend half of their days and discover new products4 whilst browsing.
Regardless of consumers' differing shopping destinations, Visa’s solutions are designed to meet them on the spot, enabling truly digital-first payment experiences. Take tokenization, for example – a technology that facilitates frictionless transactions across devices, apps, and platforms, even from the comfort of cars or using kitchen gadgets. Another instance is the recently launched Click to Pay – a solution that provides a more streamlined and secure checkout experience at scale. With Click to Pay, consumers simply need their registered email, phone number, or Visa Payment Passkey to check-out online.
Building trust and security
Of course, the most critical pillar in a consumer-centred experience is trust. With 77% of consumers wanting more control over their data, there is a pressing need for robust risk strategies that address the changing threat landscape. Within the CEMEA region alone, 52% of consumers reported falling victim to a scam5.
In response to the changing threat landscape, today’s suite of VAS uses advanced analytics and AI to ensure consumer data is protected wherever transactions take place, while preventing fraudulent transactions in real-time. Some of the solutions include the following three new AI-powered solutions to help prevent fraud:
1. Visa Risk Manager with scheme-agnostic Visa Advanced Authorization (VRM with VAA) work together so issuers can streamline their fraud operations into a single and powerful detection solution.
2. Visa Provisioning Intelligence (VPI) uses machine learning to predict token fraud.
3. Visa Protect for Account-to-Account (A2A) Payments, our first fraud prevention solution specifically designed to mitigate fraud for account-to-account payments on RTP networks. Visa Protect for A2A Payments is already identifying 60% of RTP fraud and scams previously undetected by financial institutions in the UK and Latin America6.
Benefits for business and consumers
In today's digital world, Visa’s Value-Added Services offer a host of benefits to issuers, acquirers, merchants, and other industry players. By deploying these solutions, businesses can differentiate themselves in a competitive market, attracting new consumers and driving loyalty through tailored offerings. As the future will inevitably present new challenges and opportunities, Visa’s offerings will continue to evolve in response, empowering clients and partners to offer personalized, convenient, secure and trusted experience – and unlock new opportunities together.
Visa’s Value-Added Services (VAS): With over 250 services available globally, Visa is empowering clients and partners to innovate, grow, move faster, and build trust.
VAS Suite: Acceptance Solutions, Issuing Solutions, Visa Protect, Advisory, and Open Banking.
To learn more about Visa’s comprehensive suite of Value-Added Services, watch our Visa Spotlights podcast with Walter Lironi here: Accelerating Clients’ Success with Visa’s Value-Added Services (VAS)
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All brand names, logos and/or trademarks are the property of their respective owners, are used for identification purposes only, and do not necessarily imply product endorsement or affiliation with Visa.
1Economy Middle East: Visa’s CEMEA President Andrew Torre on Getting Ready for the Next Wave of Digital Disruption
2Consumers Want Personalized Promotions; Just Half Receive Relevant Ones
3PWC Survey
4GWI Report, June 2023, cited GWI.com
5Visa Navigate: The Importance of Trust: Why Responsible Data Use is Crucial for Financial Institutions
6A Pay.UK/Visa pilot analysed more than 50% of annual UK A2A transactions over a 12-month period
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