Visa and Worldline team up with Carrefour on contactless payments

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A large proportion of retail stores in Belgium are set to accept contactless payments, with hypermarket group Carrefour securing a partnership with Visa Europe and payment terminal firm Worldline.

Contactless future for Belgium

Worldline will be providing payment terminals to the entirety of Carrefour’s stores. This is the first time that a large retail store is proposing consumers to pay contactless in the country.

By the end of 2015, Visa will be integrating its Paywave NFC technology into 747 Carrefour Belgium stores, including 45 Carrefour Hypermarkets, plus 437 Market and 265 Express stores.

‘‘We at Carrefour Belgium focus all our action on the innovations that will facilitate the shopping habits of our customers, and contactless card acceptance is therefore at the heart of our vision to enhance the customer’s shopping experience,’’ said Baptiste van Outryve, corporate communication officer at Carrefour.

Belgium has been moving closer towards financial innovation since the beginning of the year.

In June, Payment Eye reported that MasterCard and financial solutions company Buy Way have partnered on the integration and deployment of MasterPass in Belgium. This solution simplifies the purchasing process for online shoppers.

‘1.1 billion contactless Visa transactions’

Visa Europe hopes that Belgium can now move further towards a universal adoption of contactless payment technology, citing other European countries like the UK, France, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic as nations to look up to.

‘‘Visa Europe is committed to ensuring that consumers have a simple, safe and secure way to pay and we are excited about partnering with Carrefour Belgium and Worldline to support the rollout of contactless payments in retail distribution,” stated Jean-Marie de Crayencour, country manager for Visa Europe, representing Belgium.

‘‘We’re proud to have led the way in establishing contactless payments in Europe, as the milestone of 1.1 billion contactless transactions by Visa cardholders across Europe in the last 12 months has just been reached. And we’re excited to be at the forefront of it in Belgium as contactless payments become available to everyone.’’

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