Bank Of Ireland Taking A Grassroots Approach To Introducing Contactless Cards

 As the first Irish bank to promote contactless payments, The Bank of Ireland plans to use one-on-one communications with cardholders to promote the benefits of contactless payment technology when it rolls out Visa payWave cards later this year.

Earlier this month, the financial institution, which is the largest in Ireland, said it would be the first Irish bank to issue contactless cards (see story) About a 750,000 of its customers will receive the cards, Quentin Teggin, Bank of Ireland head of consumer segments, tells PaymentsSource.

The bank plans to market the technology to customers via direct mail when they receive their payWave-enabled cards, says Teggin.

“The key thing we’re saying is that the [payWave cards will offer] speed and convenience,” he says. “Trying to get coins together to pay for a coffee or a paper [will be] a thing of the past.”

In addition, the bank plans to give cardholders free contactless transactions for 12 months to promote card use. Teggin did not disclose how much it might charge for contactless transactions after 12 months.

The Irish market is expected to follow lessons learned in the nearby United Kingdom, where Barclaycard in particular has been promoting contactless payments for some time. The UK issuer recently relaunched a contactless television ad that features cards and mobile phones (see story).

Using television ads may not be the best marketing investment for promoting contactless payments in Ireland, Teggin says. Instead, and in keeping with its grassroots approach, all 15,000 of the Bank of Ireland’s employees will be trained on how to use the contactless cards so they can answer questions from customers based on their own experience using the contactless cards.

Both Visa Europe and Bank of Ireland are working to ensure big-name retailers accept contactless cards so cardholders can find places to use the technology, Teggin says, noting the rollout of contactless-payment acceptance at McDonald’s restaurants in the UK provided some important lessons, such as the need to sign up major retailers to accept the cards (see story).

Bank of Ireland is not an acquirer and will focus only on issuing the contactless cards, he adds.

Visa Europe is expected to announce several retailers that will accept the contactless payWave cards in Ireland later this week, Teggin says, though he did not disclose details.

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