Mastercard heads to Japan for contactless payments lab

MasterCard is establishing a laboratory for mobile handsets at FIME’s Japanese site, testing its compliance and interoperability with the EMVCo Contactless approval process.

As contactless card payments gain momentum globally, the mobile ecosystem is readying itself for mass market roll out. In Japan, the payments ecosystem is evolving rapidly. For FIME, the expansion of their local offering is aiming to help drive mobile payments innovation in Japan. FIME is also working with GlobalPlatform, Isis, NFC Forum and others, setting itself up as a single touch point for vendor partners’ complete testing needs.

“With Japan being a centre for mobile innovation, the ability to save time and money throughout the certification process is of great value to Japanese manufacturers,” comments Alex Chen, Sales Director at FIME Asia. “Vendors in the region can access FIME’s global expertise quicker than ever before and tap into our knowledge of the regional ecosystem’s variations and complexities in order to achieve this approval quickly and effectively.”

Mastercard is entirely committed to the integration of contactless payments, especially in Europe. Soon after the announcement of Apple Pay, MasterCard announced that it is establishing contactless acceptance as a standard by 2020 for merchants accepting MasterCard and Maestro in Europe. The card provider is hoping to ensure consumers will be able to pay with their contactless cards and NFC enabled devices at all point-of-sale terminals in Europe by 2020. But as contactless payments grow worldwide, Mastercard seems to be ready for mass adoption.

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