FNB has confirmed that all its credit and debit cards issued to customers are now contactless ‘tap’ enabled. This means customers are able to securely tap their cards at select merchants and pay for purchases without it leaving their hands.
The bank started issuing contactless enabled cards in May 2015 and already has more than 1-million in the market.
“FNB has always been at the forefront of payment technologies. With all our debit and credit cards issued now enabled with contactless technology and a number of additional merchants coming onboard, we are expecting to see good growth in contactless transactions,” says Chris Labuschagne, CEO of FNB Credit Card.
The benefits of contactless are twofold, namely: convenience and safety.
“Payments are around a third faster than normal PIN-based transactions, meaning less time spent in queues and the fact that the customer’s card never leaves their hand gives a greater level of security,” says Labuschagne.
Additional security features include encryption technology which protects the card’s contactless data from reproduction as well as the fact that customers are required to input their PIN after a number of ‘taps’ to verify the transaction.
Currently PIN-less transactions are limited to under R200 and clients who want to use contactless for more than R200 per transaction will be required to ‘tap’ and enter their PIN code.
“Contactless payments are useful for smaller, everyday purchases, such as a morning coffee or nipping to the shops for bread and milk. These purchases are usually made on the ‘fly’ where quick, painless payment options are very welcome,” says Labuschagne.
This is supported by FNB data, which shows that customers using tap functionality tend to favour the same fuel or coffee retailer, with customers tapping for an average of R60 each time.
While the numbers of contactless transactions have seen a steady increase from an average of 1,5 transactions in May 2015 to 2,5 in August 2016, the number of customers using the technology has risen sharply, doubling in the last six months, since February 2016.
“We are expecting to see much wider adoption as customers become accustomed to the contactless technology, and more merchants are geared towards these types of payments,” says Labuschagne.
