New Zealanders completed one million transactions via its contactless payment enabled credit cards for the first time in one month during October, Visa says.
Visa is hailing this as a significant milestone in the establishment of its payWave contactless payment technology, which was launched in August 2011.
“Breaking the one million milestone in a single month shows contactless payments are becoming an increasingly preferred form of payment in New Zealand," says Caroline Ada, Visa's country manager for New Zealand and the South Pacific. "It tells us Kiwis are embracing this faster and more convenient way to pay over cash."
“More than 1.5 million Visa payWave cards have been issued by our bank and credit union partners in New Zealand and we expect this to grow in the coming months,” she says.
To give some broader context Paymark, which processes about 75% of New Zealand electronic transactions, recorded 85.82 million in October.
Visa says fast food restaurants Subway and Burger King are the latest merchants to adopt contactless payment technology, meaning about 12,000 contactless terminals are now in use. Those using them include BP, Z Energy, Farmers, Glassons, and the Warehouse.
Rival MasterCard also has credit cards that enable contactless payments via its PayPass technology, whereby consumers hold their credit card in front of a contactless terminal in order to pay.
The rollout of contactless payments technology has led to safety concerns with media coverage highlighting some problems. However, Ada says payWave cards are as secure as chip cards and meet all the same standards.
"In addition, with Visa payWave, the card never leaves the cardholder’s hand, also reducing the risk of fraud."
Visa is working with BNZ and Vodafone on a mobile wallet trial based around contactless payments.
Also see the video interview with Ada here where she discusses how the uptake of contactless payments technology compares to the take up of chip cards, safety concerns and progress of the mobile wallet project.
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