Kiosk Solutions Apr-May 2016 | Page 48

unattended payment Future Trends in Unattended Card Payments Hemisphere West pick out the top trends that will gather momentum in 2016. By Phil Janeway, Managing Director, Hemisphere West Introduction As we all know, the card industry is constantly changing and shifting to new and more secure transaction methods. The only thing we can be sure of is that change will always be on the horizon to make payments more secure and provide a better consumer experience. Once again, it promises to be an incredibly busy year for the card industry with new products and technology. Drive for Contactless Contactless cards were introduced into the UK in 2007. At the time they were a mystery to many, but in recent years the volume of contactless payments has 48 KIOSK solutions soared and show no signs of slowing down. Card Issuers VISA and MasterCard are undoubtedly the driving force for ‘tap’ transactions as they try and get a bigger slice of the low value transaction market, which traditionally has been the domain of cash. VISA has reported recently that in the UK and Europe over 1.4 Billion contactless transactions were completed with VISA cards in 2015. VISA ran a campaign between March and May 2016 called ‘Cashfree & Proud’ telling cardholders they can make a VISA contactless payment with confidence and feel liberated from the need to carry cash. This isn’t just a benefit for the consumer, contactless transactions can benefit the merchant too, having shorter transaction times and reducing queues during busy periods. This campaign also relates to the latest mandate issued by VISA about contactless acceptance. VISA has mandated that the consumer have the option to pay using contactless. The mandate states all new deployments