Visa International announce today that Bulbank is the first bank in Bulgaria to successfully complete the certification process of Verified by Visa (VbyV) and that it is the first card acquirer in Bulgaria to launch this service for its merchants.

VbyV is based on 3D Secure software developed by Visa International,a globally interoperable technology for secure online payments. VbyV gives Visa cardholders more control when using their cards on the Internet. It reduces the potential for unauthorised use of payment cards on the Internet and thereby it increases consumer confidence in online shopping. The VbyV programme requires a personal password from the person using a payment card in the Internet. With VbyV, the merchant knows that the customer purchasing a product or service online is a legitimate Visa cardholder because the cardholder and its card issuing bank endorse the online payment.

"Electronic commerce is still small in Bulgaria compared to other countries in Europe. Nevertheless we have noticed that usage of payment cards online is growing very rapidly here," said Catalin Cretu, Vice President for Bulgaria and Romania, Visa International. "Verified by Visa will make online transactions more secure and Visa expects that it will therefore significantly increase online sales values and volumes in Bulgaria,".

Internet penetration in Bulgaria is currently 29 %, with 2.2 million people online. Although ecommerce is still relatively underdeveloped, the latest figures issued by Visa show a significant increase in ecommerce Bulgaria. In the year ending June 2006 the total value of e-commerce transactions towards merchants amounted to USD 5,8 million, up 160% compared to the same period in 2005, whereas the number of e-commerce transactions in Bulgaria also grew significantly by 306%, up to 101,010 in at the end of 2006.

This is set to increase with the introduction of Verified by Visa in Bulgaria. Globally there are more than 100 000 merchants (2 300 in CEMEA) that use VbyV. Currently there are 10,000 card issuers certified for VbyV worldwide, and more than 395 million cardholders now have access to this service.