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Global economic troubles combined with work to deploy basic point-of-sale terminals and to establish a cross-border payments system in Europe could delay efforts to test contactless payment schemes in some areas of the continent, a top payment-terminal executive tells CardLine Global. Among the countries where economic troubles could force banks to push back pilots is Poland, says Yolanda Rousselet, vice president for continental Europe for United States-based terminal vendor VeriFone Holdings Inc. The vendor works through partners and subsidiaries in the country and generally earns more money through newer terminals that have more features than relatively basic products, she says. Russia and Hungary also represent countries where bankers might be tempted to hold off testing new payment products, Rousselet says. Besides deploying terminals to meet demand for consumers more willing to use cards, acquirers and issuers in other parts of Europe likely want more information about the United Kingdom contactless rollout before embarking on their own tests of the technology, Rousselet says. Another factor is the time and money financial institutions must spend to meet requirements under the Single Euro Payments Area, which seeks to establish a common market for card payments.
