- Visa contactless transactions surpassed 70 percent;[1]
- Tap to phone will bring new momentum to accelerate digital payment growth in Taiwan
Taipei, Taiwan, May 4, 2020 – Visa today announced that it would introduce “tap to phone” payment solution to help accelerate contactless acceptance in Taiwan. Contactless payments is already prevalent in the market, accounting for seven in ten of all Visa face-to-face transactions.
Tap
to phone makes it easy for small and micro businesses to use smartphones to
accept payments through a designated app and without any additional hardware.
This means hundreds of thousands more sellers in Taiwan will be able to accept
contactless payments using current-generation mobile devices.
Michelle
Jao, General Manager of Visa Taiwan said: “Visa aims to empower more businesses
to participate in the digital economy in Taiwan with the introduction of tap to
phone technology. We have seen explosive adoption of Visa contactless payments
in the market from 55 percent[2]
to over 70 percent in the span of just one year. Tap to phone solutions will
bring many of the benefits previously enjoyed only by large merchants, such as more
convenience, reliability and simplicity at point of sale. This will bring digital
transformation to all small and micro business”
The
solution applies to small and micro-sellers include delivery services, table
checkout, clothing stores, the self-employed, professional services and one-on-one
sales. Tap to phone can help these businesses increase sales by preventing lost
sales and reduce operation cost such as cash handling, counterfeit money, and
errors of account.
Customers
benefit too, as they will be able make the same fast and secure payments in
seconds by simply tapping their contactless card, phone or watch to the
seller’s tap to phone-enabled smartphone. According to Visa’s Consumer Payment
Attitudes Study,[3]
four in ten Taiwan consumers want to pay with contactless and credit cards at
small merchants.
Tap to phone is supported by Android smartphones,
equipped with Near-Field Communication (NFC). The solution
builds on EMV
chip technology and brings multiple layers of security on both the buyer and
seller sides, to ensure that Visa’s high standards for secure payments are met.
Each solution undergoes an intensive certification process including a security
assessment by an accredited expert security lab. The solution is also supported by an industry
standard that has been developed and published by the PCI Security Standards
Council. An onboarding process and acquirer approval are required for sellers. Only
authorized sellers can use the solution to accept Visa contactless payments
facilitating worry-free transaction for payers and payees.
Visa
is seeing strong interest in the tap to phone program around the globe with sixteen
live pilots in nine key markets with high contactless penetration. Partner-led
pilots have already been announced in Canada, UK, Ukraine, Turkey, Costa Rica
and Malaysia, and additional pilots are planned in Poland, Spain, Italy, New
Zealand and Australia. In Taiwan, acquiring partners are active toward the project
in respond to the government’s vision in mobile payment as well as a cashless
society.
[1] Visa Net: Feb. 2020. Visa Taiwan face-to-face contactless
transactions amount to 71.8%.
[2] Visa Net: Sep. 2018. Visa Taiwan face-to-face contactless transactions
amount to 55%.
[3] The “2019 Consumer Payment Attitudes Study” is conducted by Intuit
Research on behalf of Visa. This online survey was conducted in May 2019 with
1,250 residents in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. It is intended to track and
analyze consumers’ perceptions, adoption, and attitudes toward cash and
non-cash payments.