Swatch signs pact with Visa on payment watch: report

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swatch Group Chief Executive Nick Hayek has signed a contract with credit card company Visa Inc. in connection with the Swiss firm's new watch that enables wearers to make payments, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. Swatch has already introduced the watch in China and aims to introduce a similar device in 2016 in Switzerland and the United States, Le Temps said. In China Swatch has partnered with China UnionPay. Hayek confirmed he has signed a contract with Visa for elsewhere. That covers Switzerland and the United States, the paper said. Hayek said the Swiss watchmaker would make an announcement in the coming days about its pact with Visa, the world's largest payments network. A Swatch spokesman confirmed the report on Tuesday but declined to give additional information. Swatch is joining other Swiss watchmakers seeking a share of the so-called "smartwatch" market in competition with the Apple Watch. (Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Greg Mahlich)