(Toronto, ON) May 19, 2011 – Visa announced today that over 120 grocery stores in British Columbia and Alberta have joined a growing roster of Visa payWave™ contactless payment enabled merchants across Canada. Shoppers will now be able to simply “wave and go” when making every day grocery purchases at Save-On-Foods, Overwaitea Foods, PriceSmart Foods, Cooper’s Foods, Urban Fare, and Bulkley Valley Wholesale.

“We’ve been innovating and providing exceptional customer service for nearly a century,” said OFG spokesperson Julie Dickson. “With Visa payWave, we can save our customers time as they go through the checkout line, making their shopping experience that much better.”

“Contactless payments are more convenient and faster than cash, making your stop at the grocery store quicker and easier,” said Mike Bradley, Head of Products, Visa Canada. “Visa cardholders can now enjoy the convenience and security of Visa payWave at Western Canada’s leading food and consumer goods retailer.”

Contactless payments deliver speed and convenience to merchants and Visa cardholders while offering the built in security benefits inherent in chip technology. Visa payWave cards employ EMV chip technology, which uses a standard 128-bit encryption technology, to securely store and encrypt confidential information. When a customer uses at a Visa payWave terminal, the card and the terminal exchange security information and the transaction is completed, all in less than one-third of a second. The cardholder does not need to swipe their card or let it out of their possession, keeping the transaction quick and secure.

Visa employs a layered approach to its fraud prevention efforts, including Zero Liability, which protects card holders against fraud if a stolen Visa card is used to purchase goods in person, online, by mail or by phone.

For more information about Visa’s Zero Liability Policy, visit www.visa.ca.

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About Overwaitea Food Group

OFG is proudly Western Canadian and has been in operation for nearly a century. With its first store originally located in New Westminster, BC, the company was named “the Over-weight Tea store’ by customers who appreciated getting 2 extra ounces of tea every time they bought a pound – a tradition of adding value that continues today as OFG operates more than 120 stores under the Save-On-Foods, PriceSmart Foods, Overwaitea Foods, Cooper’s Foods, Urban Fare and Bulkley Valley Wholesale banners with the support of nearly 14,000 team members.

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