Dear Subscriber,

The last few weeks have been dominated by stories about the rise of contactless payments, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that new data from Visa Europe reveals some astounding facts about the technology. For example, three billion contactless transactions have been made using Visa cards on the continent in the last 12 months. In 2013, contactless payments accounted for one in every sixty transactions; in 2015 it was one in every five. incredible, but it’s important to remember why contactless is thriving so nicely and that’s what we explore in our lead article.

Elsewhere in our newsletter we have created our very first quiz! Think you know your payments history? Take the quiz and find out! We also speak to Zwipe founder and CEO, Kim Kristian Humborstad, about about his vision for the company, what he’s learned building the business and why startup teams need a good sense of humour.

Enjoy!

In a week when Sainsbury’s finally revealed it will go contactless this year and when Eurovision said it will be cash-free and payment wearable full, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that new data from Visa Europe confirms contactless payments’ dominance in Europe.

The world of payments is a fast-paced constantly changing world. You can go from celebrating the birth of a new method to burying it in a split second (RIP Google Wallet). To see how good you are at remembering the industry, we’ve come up with a little quiz about payments. Are you better than your colleagues? Do Samsung Pay employees know more about payments than Apple Pay? Try the quiz and find out!

As a retailer, reducing the friction associated with payment as much as possible is crucial for maximising revenue. In this white paper, Verifone explains how adopting an mPOS solution can maximise the revenue potential of bricks-and-mortar stores.

Zwipe founder and CEO Kim Kristian Humborstad talks about his vision for the company, what he’s learned building the business and why startup teams need a good sense of humour.

The recent hypothesis that creating economic growth and investment opportunities in many parts of the world is, according to some governments, the responsibility of business – in particular small and medium sized companies (SMEs).