Global payments technology company Visa International is courting mobile phone network operators with a view to tying up partnerships that could give the company a foothold in the emerging mobile phone banking services, the group’s general manager for Sub Saharan Africa has said.Charles Niehaus says the company, which develops plastic card technology for use by banks and retail sellers, is faced with an important choice of “whether it should align its products or compete with the new mobile phone banking and money transfer services.”Speaking last week when he announced that Kenyan holders of Visa International branded plastic cards had clocked two million, Mr Niehaus said the company sees mobile technology as an opportunity to expand its customer products rather than a threat to its existence.

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