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Johannesburg - Visa Inc said it would buy Fundamo, a South African mobile
financial services firm, for $110m in cash, as the world's largest credit and
debit card processing network looks to grow its mobile payments business.
Visa has been increasingly looking for growth from new technology,
including mobile phone and online payments, faced with a saturated US market
for credit and debit cards.
Competition in the sector is heating up with Google,
Citigroup, and Visa's rival Mastercard joining up to enter the pay-by-phone
system.
The company said the acquisition would hurt its earnings per
share slightly for the year ending September 2011.
Hannes van Rensburg and the Fundamo management team will
continue to contribute to Visa's mobile product offerings.
The company also signed a new, long-term commercial agreement with Monitise Plc, a provider of mobile money solutions for financial institutions.
Visa's shares closed at $76.71 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
