Visa applauds the move to raising contactless payments limits in Europe

People, businesses, communities and governments in Europe and worldwide are adjusting to the dramatic changes to everyday life caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Here at Visa one of the immediate areas we are working on is to support the rise in contactless payments limits. We know consumers are looking to use contactless as they shop for the things they need. Raising the contactless limit allows them to do that more easily and securely without having to enter their PIN.

In the past few days, governments and the payments industry in Greece, Ireland, Malta, Poland and Turkey have worked together to raise the contactless payments limit.

Turkey announced it is increasing the current contactless limit of 120TL and will only require a PIN entry for purchases above 250TL; while Poland has raised the limit to 100PLN, Ireland, Greece and Malta are raising the limit to 50EUR, and a number of other European countries are reviewing an increase. In the Republic of Ireland, contactless payment limits for cards have increased to €50 in many stores across the country.

We applaud the swift action taken by local governments and the payments industry to make these changes and we commend financial institutions for the efforts they have made to implement the required technical changes.

As with many things in life; this is easier said than done. What’s more, consumers can rest assured that contactless cards experience among the lowest fraud rates of any type of payment and that fraud at the physical point of sale has remained at historic lows in countries where contactless payments are widely used.

We hope to see contactless limits raised in more countries in Europe, to allow consumers to simply tap to pay with a card or mobile phone for even more purchases – no PIN required. We stand ready to support this broader implementation, with retailers and our partners in financial services.

It’s an important step, one that can help protect individuals and facilitate fast, reliable and secure digital payments.

For more information about contactless payments visit our website.