Visa Lands B of A for Digital Wallet

Visa (V) has added another big bank partner for its digital wallet service.

The payments association said Wednesday that Bank of America (BAC) will offer the service, dubbed V.me, to customers who bank online with the Charlotte, N.C., company.

V.me lets users store shipping preferences and one or more credit or debit cards in an account. To pay online, users click a V.me button at the website of a participating merchant, enter their email address and password, choose which card and shipping address they want to use, and click a pay button.

To date, Visa has landed more than 50 financial institution partners for the service, including U.S. Bank (USB) and PNC Bank (PNC), as well as roughly 23 e-commerce retailers. The Independent Community Bankers of America said recently it would deliver V.me to its members through the association's payments service.

According to the companies, Bank of America has begun to pilot V.me as part of its online banking service, which has roughly 30 million active users.

"We believe our customers shouldn't have to forgo security for convenience when using a digital wallet," David Godsman, Bank of America's online and mobile solutions executive, said in a news release. "V.me offers customers a greatly simplified and secure checkout process when shopping online without sharing their financial information."

"We believe that Bank of America's decision to offer V.me to its vast customer base will accelerate merchant adoption and make this digital wallet even more valuable to consumers," Jennifer Schulz, Visa's global head of e-commerce, added in a news release. "In the end, the most successful payment platforms will be the ones with the greatest focus on security and the most benefit to consumers and merchants."

Visa first announced V.me last year.