The linkup – which has significant issues on the privacy front, Infosecurity notes – means that the users' mobile location, which can be triangulated from the cellular base stations it is logged into, may be used when assessing the risk element of a given transaction.
For example, say newswire reports, if a cardholder is trying to draw cash at an ATM in Germany, whilst their mobile is in the UK, there are grounds for suspicion.
Reporting on the move, Avivah Litan, an analyst with Gartner, said that it is likely that many more banks and card companies will adopt the technology once they see the benefits.
ValidSoft, says Litan, has direct access to mobile networks, tables, and services around the globe and can provide mobile-based location services without requiring that users opt in.
"Many financial institutions are interested in using these services for fraud detection but are concerned about the privacy implications and don't want their customers thinking they are following them around", she said in her security blog.
According to Litan, ValidSoft has been certified as 'privacy respectful' by EuroPrise, a European-based privacy group, and has agreements with the mobile networks it works with.
In July of this year, Litan and fellow analyst William Clark penned an analysts' note predicting that, by 2015, at least 15% of all payment card transactions "will be validated using mobile location and profile information".
Litan said that she and Clark believe that Visa Europe's move is the start of this trend, and that many more card companies and banks will follow by adopting this technology.
"After all, our mobile phone is practically tied to our umbilical cords – we rarely leave home without it. Visa knows it and so do the rest of us. Why shouldn't it serve as a useful tool for preventing fraud against us?" she said.