TOKYO, March 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberSource, a Visa Inc. company (NYSE: V), and one of the world's largest providers of eCommerce payment management services, today announced a strategic partnership with LINE Corporation, a Japan-based Internet services and mobile applications (app) company. This agreement will allow LINE, a mobile messenger service app, to enhance the convenience of its mobile payment service -- LINE Pay.
Through this partnership, LINE will leverage CyberSource's payment management platform to enable its full suite of payment and fraud management services for its mobile payment service LINE Pay. Via CyberSource's global payment gateway, LINE will be able to process online payments from multiple card brands and issuers, as well as certain alternative payment methods. These solutions enable LINE to advance their business globally in a scalable and secure manner.
Since the launch of LINE in 2011, the service has grown globally across 230 countries and regions. As LINE Corporation's core business platform, the app helped the company obtain an international presence by consistently rolling out and expanding innovative and convenient services, integrating various social elements in its app features -- including LINE stickers, LINE family apps, LINE GAME and LINE camera. The mobile messaging service app has 181 million monthly active users as of January 2015[1].
"With global smartphone penetration per capita expected to increase more than three times by 2017 from that in 2011[2], we recognize that there is great opportunity for growth in the mobile industry," said Takeshi Idezawa, Chief Operating Officer of LINE Corporation. "We are constantly looking to work with partners with an established worldwide presence and vast experience so that we can provide quality service to today's digitally-savvy consumers. With our entry into the mobile payments market, we are now able to empower our customers with more choices and flexibility in online payments. On top of that, we are also able to protect their interests with CyberSource's payment security expertise. We strongly believe this will be pivotal in helping us accelerate our global growth."
In addition to global payment services, LINE will also have access to secure payment acceptance and comprehensive fraud management services via the CyberSource payment management platform. This means LINE will be able to provide payment security, with users' sensitive payment data residing in CyberSource's secure data centers, as well as process a wider spectrum of payment methods. LINE Corporation will also be able to leverage CyberSource Decision Manager, the fraud management tool which features the World's Largest Fraud Detection Radar, to pinpoint fraud faster, more accurately and with less manual intervention.
"We are pleased to work with LINE Corporation to safeguard customers' interest by building a scalable and safe online payment environment, while improving end-to-end customer experience," said Poon Khye Wei, Regional Director, Greater China and Korea, CyberSource. "We look forward to helping LINE achieve not only its business objective of global expansion, but also to enable the company to streamline and optimize its payments operations via a consolidated single platform."
About CyberSource
CyberSource, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Visa Inc., is a payment management company. Over 400,000 businesses worldwide use CyberSource and Authorize.Net brand solutions to process online payments, streamline fraud management, and simplify payment security. The company is headquartered in Foster City, California and maintains offices throughout the world, with regional headquarters in Singapore, Tokyo, Miami / Sao Paulo and Reading, U.K. CyberSource operates in Europe under agreement with Visa Europe. For more information, please visit http://www.cybersource.com/asiapacific.
About LINE Corporation
LINE Corporation is based in Japan and develops and operates the LINE app for smartphones. Since launching in June 2011, the LINE app has grown into a global service used in 230 countries and regions, ranking first in the free app category in 69 countries. LINE offers free one-to-one and group messaging, as well as free domestic and international voice and video calls. LINE also includes a wide array of social elements such as fun and expressive stickers, a personal Home, a Timeline, and numerous LINE family apps, including LINE games and LINE camera. For more information about LINE, please visit http://linecorp.com/en/.
[1] LINE Corporation, LINE Corporation Announces 2014 Fiscal Year Results¸ January 29, 2015
[2] Statista -- The Statistics Portal, Smartphone user penetration as percentage of total global population from 2011 to 2018
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