Nearly nine in 10 European consumers using a contactless payment ring say that it is their preferred method for making contactless payments (89%) compared with smartphone payments (49%) and payment cards (44%), according to a Mastercard survey.

The survey comes as Mastercard partners with Intesa Sanpaolo bank to roll out a contactless NFC payments ring in Italy, enabling users to connect the device to their bank-issued Mastercard payment card and use it to make contactless payments at the point of sale.

“Payment rings represent a further step towards the spread of the internet of things,” Mastercard says. It adds that the key drivers for consumer adoption are “the desire to make payments quickly (82%), to be at the forefront (69%) and to be fashionable (31%)”, with nearly one in three older users also citing safety reasons (32%).

Intesa Sanpaolo’s payments ring “does not require any battery charge or internet connection to get into operation”, the bank explains.

“The wearable is shipped in an inactive state together with a QR code that allows activation only by the cardholder, with authentication via the Intesa Sanpaolo Mobile app.

“To pay for the purchases in contactless mode, it is necessary to simply bring the ring close to the POS, just like for payments via physical cards or smartphones.”

Intesa Sanpaolo is the first Italian bank to roll out the passive payment ring developed and launched by Swedish wearables technology provider Tapster in August 2021.

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