Visa unveils VisaNet +AI, AI-powered innovations for smarter payments

By Pavithra R

Visa has announced the launch of VisaNet +AI, a suite of AI-powered services that address long-standing challenges and pain points for banks, merchants and consumers, including delays and confusion with managing account balances and the unpredictability of daily settlement for FIs. 

The new VisaNet +AI comprises several innovative concepts and unique value-added services, including Visa Smarter Posting, Visa Smarter Settlement Forecast, and Visa Smarter Stand-In Processing (Smarter STIP). These features enable the AI platform to make payments more predictable, transparent, and speedy.

“In Visa, we have a partner that is driving new innovations in AI for payments. With VisaNet +AI we can harness those innovations and drive new value for our business and customers,” said Mr Braik Ali H S Al – Marri, Chief Retail Banking Officer, Doha Bank, Qatar. 

Visa’s Smarter Posting is a service that uses AI to deliver a customized score for each transaction as part of the authorization process. It analyzes transaction details and historical data to predict the likelihood that a transaction amount will remain consistent through clearing. The service will be initially available in Europe in April 2021 and is slated to expand globally shortly.

Visa’s Smarter Settlement Forecast provides clients with customized 7-day forecasts of the settlement amount they may need on hand each day. It uses information generated by historical settlement volumes, seasonal indicators, macro-trends, outlier events, such as those surrounding the pandemic, and real-time transaction data to provide high-quality predictions of cash outflows and inflows. Smarter Settlement Forecast is slated to be made available to eligible clients through a Visa Analytics Platform subscription, thus simplifying integration for clients. Visa is currently piloting the service with 3 clients ahead of its formal launch planned later this year.

Visa Smarter Stand-In Processing (Smarter STIP), the first of the VisaNet +AI capabilities uses deep learning to help FIs increase transaction authorizations during outages. The service generates informed decision to approve or decline transactions on behalf of issuers to provide consumers with a frictionless Visa payment experience.

“Our clients, partners and cardholders look to us for actionable data-driven insights to better manage their businesses and financial lives, especially during these unprecedented times. Today we’re announcing a set of services that use AI to make it easier for consumers to manage their accounts, and for financial institutions to manage their business. With our investment in AI infrastructure, we’re unlocking novel, real-time solutions to complex problems. This is just the beginning of what we can do with the predictive power of AI,” said Jack Forestell, executive vice president and chief product officer, Visa.