The PAYBACK Sports Visa card
The German Olympic team are being provided with a contactless payment card for use in London shops and taxis during the 2012 Olympic Games (view press release). Giesecke and Devrient is producing the card and, in cooperation with PAYBACK, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg will provide the PAYBACK Sports Visa card to a select group of athletes. The card has a black and gold design and supports both contactless and contact payments. The card is one of the first Visa payWave credit cards to be launched in Germany and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg is planning to eventually extend contactless functionality to other card programmes.
Contactless infrastructure is being rolled out in London for the Olympics to make payments as quick and efficient as possible. No PIN or signature will be required for payments of up to £20 (€25). The athletes will also automatically collect PAYBACK points when making payments with the card.
“London ranks as one of the top European cities as far as contactless payments is concerned. The German athletes will therefore be ideally equipped with the new Olympic Games card. And once they get back home they will be among the trendsetters for contactless payment in Germany – sending a positive message of which we are particularly proud,” said head of Mobile Security at G&D, Michael Kuemmerle.
Athletes will be able to apply for the card from the end of June at the official outfitting presentation in Mainz.
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