Visa: Consumers have made an extra 500m touch-free payments in Europe since contactless limits were increased

Contactless Visa card used at POS
TOUCH-FREE TREND: More than 75% of in-store Visa payments in Europe are now contactless

Visa has processed 500m additional PIN-less, touch-free transactions since contactless payment limits were increased in 29 countries across Europe in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the card network reports.

“The growing demand for contactless is visible across Europe, where over 75% of in-store Visa payments are now contactless,” Visa says.

“In some European countries, the share of Visa transactions that are contactless have more than doubled year-on-year and in many of the largest Europe nations, the share of Visa transactions that are contactless has increased by at least 20% in the past year.”

“What’s more, contactless cards experience among the lowest fraud rates of any type of payment and fraud at the physical point of sale has remained at historic lows in countries where contactless payments are widely used,” the company claims.

“The increasing popularity of contactless payments across Europe is not new — the pandemic has only served to accelerate an existing trend, only now touch-free payments are no longer a convenience, but a necessity,” adds Visa Europe’s CEO Charlotte Hogg.

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