Contactless technology was built into 56% of all smart cards shipped globally excluding the Americas in 2015, up from 42% in 2014, the Smart Payment Association reports. “53% of all cards shipped in Europe were contactless, while in the Asia Pacific region, an impressive 74% of cards featured contactless technologies,” says the association. Approximately 2.6bn chip payment cards were shipped around the world last year, with 570m shipped to the US — a two-fold increase on 2014 — and a 27% growth in shipments in China.

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