Interview: Godfrey Sullivan, senior vice-president, CEMEA, Visa

Godfrey Sullivan, senior vice-president, CEMEA, Visa, speaks about the latest trends in the global payments industry. Read the full interview in here.

What does the current payments market landscape look like, globally and regionally?

This week we are hosting our annual Visa Payments Forum (VPF) for the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region, and your question is central to the purpose of the event, which seeks to turn today’s data, innovation and trends into a tangible blueprint for tomorrow’s payments ecosystem. The global payments market is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by evolving consumer behaviors, technological advancements, and a growing preference for digital solutions. In 2023, global payment revenues surpassed $2 trillion, highlighting the increasing reliance on digital commerce and money movement, which have grown rapidly.

What are a few of the most pressing challenges across payments today that you have sought to address with these new products and services?

The payments industry faces several critical challenges that Visa’s new products and services aim to address. At VPF, we unveiled a suite of transformational products and services tailored to the emerging and future needs of consumers, merchants and financial institutions. VPF serves as an ideal platform for engaging with clients, partners and sector leaders to explore innovative solutions, identify challenges, and envision possibilities that can shape commerce globally.

How different are consumers today, and what are the main considerations to keep in mind when shaping experiences for them?

Today’s consumers are more digitally savvy and demand seamless, flexible and secure payment experiences. They expect convenience across all touchpoints, whether shopping online, in-store, or via mobile, and this shift requires payment solutions that are both versatile and user-friendly.

Can you tell us more about how you’re enabling smaller merchants, particularly micro and nano merchants, to better serve modern consumers?

We are committed to empowering micro and nano merchants by providing them with the tools they need to participate fully in the digital economy. Our Nano Merchant Acceptance solution is a key part of this effort, offering innovative ways to facilitate transactions through mobile devices. This includes USSD Push Payments for feature phones and Tap to Phone, which transforms any smartphone into a point-of-sale terminal.

From a security standpoint, can you share how emerging technologies such as AI are contributing to innovation at Visa?

Security is at the core of Visa’s innovations, with emerging technologies like AI playing a crucial role in enhancing our capabilities. AI-driven models are pivotal in fraud detection and prevention, analyzing over 500 data elements across more than 200 billion transactions annually. Our Visa Protect for Account-to-Account (A2A) Payments solution leverages AI to combat fraud in real-time payments (RTP), successfully identifying 60 percent of previously undetected RTP fraud.

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