Smart Payment Association (SPA), the payments industry trade body, has today released its latest figures from its annual review of the smart payments market.
Last year saw the amount of chip-enabled cards shipped globally surpass the two billion mark. In total, the figure was 2.05 billion cards. It was only three years ago that the shipment number surpassed the one billion mark.
This considerable increase is down to several factors. Growth and demand in the Chinese market has had a profound effect on chip-enabled card demand. When the Chinese state council announced in late April its intention to open its payment transaction to foreign companies, Visa and MasterCard shares went through the roof.
The other major event contributing to the shipment increase is the upcoming liability shift in the US market. Issuers in the US are rushing to meet the November deadline. From that time onwards, in the case of credit card fraud, the party with less advanced technology will be liable.
Detailed figures also confirm the rapidly increasing popularity of contactless methods of payment. Contactless technology represented almost half (42 per cent) of total smart payment card shipments. That marks a 5 per cent increase from 2013.
The figures also identified the markets’ hunger for extra security: 70 per cent of cards shipped in 2014 had Dynamic Data Authentication technology (DDA). That is a 4 per cent increase from the previous year.
“The enthusiasm for new ways to pay, with more convenience and security, is driving the growth of contactless payment. Across the world we have seen an increasing number of retailers actively promoting ‘tap and go’ payment for lower value purchases – reducing queuing and offering greater speed and convenience for customers at the point of sale. We expect this trend to continue to gather pace as we move through 2015,” said Nicolas Raffin, the new SPA President.
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