Following the successful certification by Visa, Bank of Valletta has become the first local bank to open its point of sale (POS) terminals to accept V Pay cards. With this new technology, BoV merchant customers will start to benefit from a wider card acceptance base, making possible the acquiring of another brand of cards using Chip and Pin technology.

"V Pay is a pan-European debit card created by Visa and is based entirely on Chip and Pin technology, greatly reducing the risk of fraud and disputes," Michael Galea, executive head responsible for Bank of Valletta's cards business, explained.

As this debit card takes the full advantage of the latest chip and Pin technology, it is both efficient for merchants to accept and secure for cardholders to use. And as with all other Chip and Pin cards, acceptance procedures are very simple - the merchant only needs to insert the card in the POS terminal and ask for the cardholder to enter the Pin to have the transaction authorised.

Numerous banks in eight European countries have already committed to the introduction of the V Pay procedures which will equate to 40 million V Pay card users over the next two years.