Visa Cash is a smart card

Smart card

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

 electronic cash

Electronic cash

Electronic cash is the debit card system of the German Central Credit Committee, the association which represents the top German financial interest groups. Usually paired with a checking account, cards with an Electronic Cash logo are only handed out by proper credit institutions...

 system owned by VISA

VISA (credit card)

Visa Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered on 595 Market Street, Financial District in San Francisco, California, United States, although much of the company's staff is based in Foster City, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout...

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Trialled in various locations Worldwide (including Leeds, UK in 1997), the system works via a 'chip' embedded in a bank card, and looks similar to the so-called 'Chip and PIN

Chip and PIN

Chip and PIN is the brandname adopted by the banking industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland for the rollout of the EMV smartcard payment system for credit, debit and ATM cards.- History :...

' cards issued, among other countries, in Europe.

The card is 'loaded' with cash via specialized ATMs, and the cash can later be 'spent' by inserting the card into the retailer's card-reader and pressing a button to confirm the amount. Neither PIN entry nor a signature is required, which makes for a speedy transaction for the card's owner.

Other competing cashless payment systems for micro-payments (small amounts) include Mondex

Mondex

Mondex is a smart card electronic cash system which was originally developed by National Westminster Bank in the United Kingdom and subsequently sold to MasterCard International. Mondex launched in a number of markets during the 1990s, expanding from an original trial in Swindon, UK to Hong Kong,...

.

A more successful smart card electronic cash system is the Octopus card

Octopus card

The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong...

 system in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

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External links

• VisaCash.org a website dedicated to saving the history of the Visa Cash card program.