Not surprisingly, the upcoming 2012 London Olympics has become the perfect battleground for those who fear Visa is trying to deny visitors the ability to use cash on the Olympics grounds.
The card brand finds itself at odds with the director of the United Kingdom Payments Council, which accuses Visa Europe of pulling ATMs off the Olympic grounds, thus forcing patrons to use Visa debit or credit cards for purchases.
But the cries against Visa and its sponsorship role at the Olympics have been ringing for months on the Cash-is-Cool.com Ltd. website that supports consumers using cash for transactions and small businesses that operate on a cash-only basis.
Ron Delnevo, the payments council’s director, fired the most recent salvo against Visa, saying in interviews with the British press that the Olympics sponsor replaced 27 ATMs with just eight Visa-branded units, a move Delnevo claims was completed to “compel those visiting the Olympics to use only Visa cards,” according to the Sky News website.
Visa Europe counters that Olympic visitors can bring as much cash to the Olympics as they would like, noting 115 million Visa cards are in circulation in the UK, and there is a “high probability” that most Olympic attendees will possess a Visa card.
Delnevo’s criticism of Visa does not reflect the opinion of the Payments Council, a Visa Europe spokesperson pointed out in an email to PaymentsSource. Instead, his views on the use of cash and Visa’s ATM setup at the Olympics stem from his role as managing director of Bank Machine, a founder of the ATM network servicing the UK, and his roles on various ATM associations and committees of the UK’s Link ATM network.
The spokesperson did not come out and say it, but the implication seems clear that Visa considers Delnevo’s comments as sour grapes because Link cardholders won’t find Link ATMs accepting their cards at the Olympics.
In addition, Delnevo began writing a blog last July for the Cash-is-Cool website, often pointing out the positive aspects of using cash in transactions, while noting that the card networks and payments industry in the UK essentially have wasted money in attempts to create a contactless payment method that consumers are not embracing.
At every Olympic Games, Visa creates and manages the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all venues, the Visa spokesperson stated.
“Visa installs thousands of point-of-sale devices and a dedicated ATM network at every Olympic Games,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson confirmed that eight ATMs will be installed at London 2012 Olympic venues, noting contactless payment technology will be in place for the first time at the Olympics.
Delnevo told local media that Visa strategically restricted ATMs at the most heavily visited venues, including Excel Centre, Earl’s Court, North Greenwich Area, Wembley Arena, Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon, Old Trafford, St. James’ Park and the City of Coventry Stadium.
Visa Europe countered in stating the Olympic Park and Excel Centre will have the Visa-branded ATMs.
“No ATMs will be removed, but some will be inactive for the duration of the Games, and some venues do not have existing ATM facilities,” the spokesperson said. “Visa debit, credit and prepaid cards and cash will be accepted at all Games' venues.”
Though the Olympic-site ATMs will accept only Visa cards, Visa is not charging for the use of the ATM with extra fees, the spokesperson added.
“In the run up to the Games, there has been communication to ticket purchasers notifying them that they will need to pay with a Visa debit, credit and prepaid card or cash when they attend the Games,” the spokesperson said.
Delnevo sounded unconvinced in statements he made to the press.
"The Olympics are going to be cash-starved by design,” Delnevo said in the SkyNews report. “This is plainly unacceptable in a world where 85%-plus of all transactions continue to be made using cash.”
Delnevo’s stance against Visa was not surprising, considering Cash-is-Cool had orchestrated a “Cash-is-Cool Olympics Campaign” late last year in which it began posting a series of articles pointing out Visa’s efforts for contactless payment.
In a late November posting, the site called Visa’s contactless-payment development “an obsession now apparently being inflicted on the 2012 Olympics in the shape of massive presence for contactless terminals in the Olympic venues’ food and retail outlets.”
Gareth Lodge, a London-based industry analyst with Celent, tells PaymentsSource that regulators in the UK have approved Visa’s ATM setup at the Olympics, rendering the Cash-is-Cool voices as somewhat empty.
“Ron (Delnevo) is a well-known character and active ATM operator, so I’ll let you join the dots,” Lodge says. “I would also say if I were sponsoring an event, I’d be looking to find a way of driving a return on my investment.”
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