V Pay
V PAY is a type of debit card issued by Visa Europe. It provides a fully chip & PIN based card that may be co-branded with various national debit card schemes, such as the German Girocard[1][2][3] or Italy's PagoBancomat[4]. V PAY is designed to provide a SEPA-compliant card that enables usage across the whole of Europe[5], and to compete with MasterCard's similar Maestro debit card product. V PAY began to be accepted at merchants in France & Greece in 2005[6], and acceptance has since expanded to more European countries. By 2010, 14,000,000 V PAY cards had been issued.
V PAY, unlike cards like Maestro, may not be used in non-chip & PIN environments, limiting its acceptance to those countries and merchants that have upgraded to this system. Also, unlike cards like Maestro, which is issued and accepted globally, V PAY is designed specifically as an European product, and is not issued or accepted outside European countries[7], which limits its use primary only in Europe.