Visa Europe is making more headway promoting its contactless card and mobile technology in France, as it launches a second contactless pilot in Strasbourg. Visa also has a contactless pilot operating in Nice, France, which launched in May 2010.
Banks supporting the pilot include Banque Edel, BNP Paribas, Banque Postale, Banque Populaire d’Alsace et Caisse d’Epargne d' Alsace, Credit Agricole and others.
The pilot focuses on distributing contactless payments terminals to merchants and contactless cards to consumers, Visa Europe said in a Sept. 8 press release.
Visa Europe also is supporting a public-awareness campaign for contactless payment, featuring a website introducing the technology to consumers, a poster campaign touting contactless payment around Strasbourg shopping areas, bus shelters and parking lots, a print media campaign, and a fleet of Visa-branded “smart” cars bearing the slogan “Visa contactless payment is coming to Strasbourg” in French.
The move is in line with the French government’s ongoing efforts to promote contactless payments.
“France has been very active in pursuing contactless pilots and projects, which at least partly can be explained by active government support,” Zilvinas Bareisis, senior analyst at Celent’s London office, said in an email statement. “The French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry has been funding various NFC and RFID projects for the last few years now.”
The active involvement of Visa and its member banks helps drive not just the contactless card issuing, but also helps encourage necessary changes in acceptance infrastructure, he says, pointing to one of the biggest hurdles in adoption of the payments technology.
UK consumers have embraced contactless payments more than other countries, says Bareisis. “Visa Europe is also very active in the UK in driving contactless acceptance, particularly with the Olympics coming up,” he says.
A recent survey of 2,000 UK consumers Visa Europe conducted as part of its Contactless Barometer quarterly report showed that UK consumers are favorably disposed toward contactless technology but want to see greater acceptance from merchants (
Visa Europe issuers have distributed 23.3 million contactless cards to consumers since launching the technology in 2007, the company said in the release. The UK has the most contactless cards, with 15 million cards issued. Visa Europe expects 30 million contactless Visa cards to be in use by the end of the year.
There are 150,000 contactless terminals in use across Europe and the UK has 70,000 of those terminals, Visa Europe said.
Contactless adoption in the United States has been much slower than Europe and even Canada.
“Contactless development in the U.S. has been slow, as the industry grappled with other issues, such as Durbin amendment or whether to migrate to EMV,” says Bareisis. “Visa's recent announcement of timeframes and incentives towards EMV and contactless migration is likely to play an important role in stimulating the market.”
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