Visa will be using its status as a worldwide partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games to show off its latest payment innovations. The company announced it will showcase payments via mobile phone and chip-enabled payment cards at thousands of retail locations throughout London and Olympic venues.

"Electronic payments play a crucial role in facilitating tourism and meeting the needs of consumers on the go during a world sporting event such as the Olympic Games, making this a unique opportunity to showcase how technology is changing the way people shop, pay and get paid around the world," said Jim McCarthy, head of products at Visa Inc.

In London, Visa will demonstrate payments future in which consumers rely on mobile devices, tablets and PCs to manage their daily financial lives, McCarthy said.

During the Olympic games, Visa and its partners will enable Visa-sponsored athletes, trialists, and visitors to experience the future of payments. Examples include:

• Visa Mobile Payments and Services: A limited edition of the Samsung GALAXY S III, Samsung's Olympic Games Phone for London 2012, will be given to Visa-sponsored athletes and trialists. It features an Olympic-branded version of the Visa mobile payment application, Visa payWave, to facilitate tap-and-go payments using NFC technologies.
• Contactless Retail Locations: More than 140,000 payment terminals throughout the U.K. will accept Visa payWave-enabled cards and phones, Visa said. Participating merchants will include 5,000 London taxis and 3,000 point-of-sale locations at Olympic Games venues.
• Visa Mobile Prepaid: The company said it will show off its newest Visa Mobile Prepaid card, a mobile-based Visa product that provides consumers in developing countries a Visa payment account on their mobile phone. The account can be used for sending and receiving international remittances, bill payment, mobile top-up and ATM access.

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