Visa appoints managing director for UK division

Visa Europe has appointed José San-Juan as managing director of Visa UK. He replaces Colin Grannell, who took a Europe-wide marketing role two months ago.

San-Juan, who moves over from elsewhere in the European division, joins as Visa Europe announces its first range of “contactless” card deals. A number of UK banks are expected to launch contactless cards, which are “swiped” near special readers – for example Transport for London (TfL) Oyster cards, later this year.

The card payment services company has also teamed up with TfL and Barclaycard to provide an Oyster card, which doubles as a contactless debit and credit card. Visa says the agreement is the first step towards delivering a “cashless” Olympic Games in London in 2012.

San-Juan joins the UK arm after six years in roles across Visa Europe’s business in Southern, Northern and Central Europe.

Grannell, as executive vice-president of partnership and marketing, is now responsible for Visa Europe’s sponsorships and partnerships, particularly its Olympic properties in the lead-up to London 2012.

Rival Mastercard is also expected to launch contactless products this year. It carried out its first European trial of its PayPass system with Royal Bank of Scotland last summer (MW March 9, 2006).

Yesterday (Tuesday) Grannell announced Visa would continue to support the British Olympic Association (BOA) with a “substantial increase” in its financial backing. He says the brand is keen to assist British sport at all levels, from grassroots and youth sport through to elite performance.