Tap it or Wave it, Payments Add UpPayPass MasterCard International It's an ongoing quest in the payment industry: how to make non-cash payments faster and simpler. Well, what could be more effortless than tapping or waving a card when paying? MasterCard International announced it is testing a new contactless card payment program, in partnership with Chase, Citibank and MBNA, where consumers tap or wave their cards to pay. The new program is called PayPass, and MasterCard is testing it at several merchant locations in Orlando, Fla. The MasterCard PayPass card contains a magnetic stripe, an embedded computer chip and an antenna. When card users tap or wave their card on any compatible payment terminal, account information is transmitted wirelessly, communicated directly to the terminal and then processed through MasterCard's network. Since the PayPass card also has a magnetic stripe, consumers can use it at any location where MasterCard is accepted. MasterCard says merchants will benefit from PayPass because the solution is even faster than accepting cash, so consumers speed through the checkout process. Average transaction amounts increase as compared to cash, and PayPass may help attract new customers and increase their loyalty to the store. Financial institutions will like it, says MasterCard, because gross dollar volume increases with non-cash payments, new acceptance opportunities would become available for quick-pay environments and accountholder loyalty could increase for their card programs. MasterCard's pilot in Orlando builds on a successful employee pilot that was tested at MasterCard's New York headquarters. Results from the employee program showed that purchase transaction time was reduced by up to 64 percent and the average transaction amount increased by 10 percent when using a PayPass payment card instead of cash. If the Orlando pilot proves successful, MasterCard plans to introduce PayPass in more cities across the U.S. MasterCard International Global Headquarters 2000 Purchase Street, Purchase, NY 10577 U.S.A. Telephone: 914-249-2000 |
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