Visa has unveiled its transformed Singapore Innovation Centre, a dedicated space for partners, clients and businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.
The global company said that as the payments landscape evolves rapidly, the centre enables stakeholders to engage with Visa technologists to co-create payments solutions ahead of demand, deliver scalable innovation, and address the biggest challenges and opportunities in digital payments in the region.
Showcasing the transformative power of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) in retail and payments, and reimagining modern credentials for enhanced security and convenience, the facility also serves as a springboard for thought leadership in decentralised and embedded finance, offering tailored solutions for businesses and fostering innovative collaborations with startups.
“We’re dedicated to helping businesses discover valuable insights early so they continue to stay ahead in the rapidly digitalising payments landscape,” said Stephen Karpin, Visa president in APAC.
“By combining our expertise with cutting-edge technology and solution architecture, we work alongside our partners to materialise solutions that address payment challenges, driving real business value and growth for our clients,” said Karpin.
The centre’s strategy for shaping the future of payments encompasses a broad range of business needs and is constantly updated to keep par with the ever evolving payment trends of the region.
First, the speed and convenience of biometric payments. Pay-by-palm is the next-generation payment technology that uses unique palm signatures for identity verification, a significant leap from the widely used fingerprint and facial recognition systems of today.
Visitors to the Innovation Centre can experience hovering their palm over a reader, linking their unique signature to their payment card for a transaction. While still in early adoption stages, it’s already making waves in urban mobility in China and the retail sector in the United States.
Second, shopping online offline with augmented reality (AR) and AI. AR combined with the predictive power of AI, supports a range of use cases, including AR-powered virtual shopping, navigation systems for brick-and-mortar stores, and even virtual fitting rooms, something that can be experienced at the new Visa Singapore Innovation Centre.
Third, modernising business payments flows for growth. With the help of technology and digitisation, Visa is investing in commercial payments solutions that can help businesses to not just have centralised financial management and reporting, but also analyse real-time data for a better understanding of finances and insights that can lead to growth opportunities.
And fourth, unlocking competitive advantage with data. Valuable insights into customer behaviour, market trends, and business performance can help businesses optimise their processes, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experiences.
The Visa Innovation Centre is a sandbox, helping businesses harness data assets to anticipate market changes that can allow them to make proactive adjustments to stay ahead of the competition.
The Singapore Innovation Center is part of Visa’s network of eight regional innovation centres worldwide. The others are in San Francisco, Mexico City, London, Dubai, Nairobi, Beijing and Riyadh.
