MasterCard continues its European contactless domination

Over a one year period ending December 2013, MasterCard has grown its contactless footprint in Europe by expanding the number of countries where contactless cards are accepted.

As a result, contactless is now available in 63 countries worldwide, and in 34 countries in Europe including 7 new countries in 2013: Azerbaijan, Finland, Ireland, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and the Netherlands. MasterCard and Maestro contactless cards or devices have been issued by more than 220 financial institutions in Europe and can be used at almost 2 million merchant locations worldwide, representing more than a 180% year-on-year increase.

On top of the steady increase of the number of places where MasterCard and Maestro contactless payments can be made, the number of contactless transactions across Europe has more than tripled and the volume spent on those transactions has increased four times year-on-year.

COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS

Poland and Czech Republic:
Approximately one in three MasterCard and Maestro in-store card transaction is contactless, driven by the mass rollout of contactless cards and terminals as well as strong marketing campaigns.

Hungary:
In Hungary, a Bell Research study in 2013 about the MasterCard Mobile NFC Wallet pilot confirms that mobile NFC was extensively used for payments as well as for collecting reward points. Nearly 20% of respondents used their mobile NFC wallet at least daily and most of them have also collected reward points successfully associated with the value proposition.

Spain:
MasterCard and Banco Sabadell announced a pilot of HCE (Host Card Emulation) that enabled contactless payments with a mobile phone without the use of a secure element.

Germany:
MasterCard announced a collaboration between Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica Deutschland, Vodafone and TREVICA (a MasterCard owned company) to create a new mobile platform and accelerate the development of mobile payments in Germany.

UK:
In the UK, MasterCard has joined forces with Weve, the joint venture between the three largest mobile operators: EEO2 and Vodafone. This partnership will leverage Weve’s expertise in the mobile space along with MasterCard’s innovative approach to payments and relationships with UK bank partners, bringing contactless mobile payments to 80% of UK consumers. In addition, EE has launched its mobile NFC service in the UK market.

Switzerland:
The largest retailers in the country are in the process of enabling contactless payments at thousands of merchant locations. With contactless also being adopted across parking, fast-food and transport, these latest developments are underpinning the growth of contactless in the country.

Russia:
Commuters can travel faster and hassle-free as a pilot of MasterCard contactless was launched at Moscow Metro ticket machines. MasterCard, along with the Department of Transportation and Development of Road Transport Infrastructure of Moscow, Moscow Metro and Sberbank made contactless technology available to commuters at ten Moscow Metro stations, 64 ticket machines.

Netherlands:
Following a successful mobile NFC pilot in the city of Leiden in 2013, ING Bank recently announced that from 15 April 2014 onwards all ING cardholders will have contactless payments on their Maestro cards.

Austria:
Most banks have started to enable the contactless function on their Maestro debit card portfolios upon renewal of these cards equipping most cardholders in the country with tap & go.

Javier Perez, President, MasterCard Europe explains: ‘The figures showcase how contactless payment has reached mass market adoption in several countries.  As well as being loved by people across Europe, retailers are also seeing the benefit with some seeing well over 50% of card transactions tapped, making the shopping experience safer and simpler for all of us.  The move to contactless is also helping us continue to drive the use of mobile payments and by the end of Q4 2013, we had 50 mobile NFC programmes live in Europe – showing just how important payment innovation is for all of us in Europe.’

 

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