Visa expands transaction processing facilities in Singapore, UK

Visa has opened new data centres in Singapore and the UK to expand its transaction processing capabilities and meet growing demand for digital payments.

The two sites would operate in sync with the payment company's two other such facilities in North America, it said in a statement Wednesday. The new centres, though, would only begin processing global transactions next year.

The Singapore data centre spans 10,000 square feet and was Visa's first transaction processing facility in Southeast Asia, supporting processes in the region as well as globally. The company in April 2016 opened its Singapore Innovation Centre, which aimed to create next-generation commerce applications.

Visa's Asia-Pacific group executive Chris Clark said the new processing facility here would help boost the company's ability to meet growing demand for digital payments as well as drive new service developments for the region.

Visa's executive vice president of technology Rajat Taneja said: "Commerce and payments are in the midst of an historic shift from analogue to digital. A growing majority of people around the globe are leaving cash behind and reaching instead for their cards and devices to pay."

The UK data centre, which still was being retrofitted, also would span 10,000 square feet when ready and support its customers across Europe.

Globally, Visa said it supported 16,600 financial institutions and 3 billion cards.