MasterCard and Visa to share contactless payments protocol

This will ensure that cards and terminals supporting MasterCard and Visa contactless payment applications conform to the same communications protocol and undergo equivalent testing, thus ensuring interoperability across brands. Ensuring interoperability via the use of a common protocol for conducting contactless payments will benefit merchants, consumers and terminal vendors by providing a consistent experience at check-out across both payment brands. With a common protocol in place, merchants will also have the assurance that a single point of sale terminal may support multiple payment brands and will require less time for terminal programming and testing. Agreeing to one common standard benefits all in the value chain, said Art Kranzley, chief e-business officer and executive vice president, Advanced Payments, MasterCard International.Merchants and terminal vendors can invest and deploy contactless devices with confidence, knowing they will only have to develop and support one communications specification, making the manufacturing process easier and less costly. Continuing on leveraging the workof EMV, this common protocol is just the first step towards the development ofcontactless payment systems, said Gaylon Howe, executive vice president, Global Product Platforms, Visa International.Supporting a single common protocol will further accelerate the migration towards electronic payments, and deliver more payment choices to consumers. Contactless payments, like MasterCard PayPass and Visa Contactless Programs, allow cardholders to speed through checkout by paying with a simple tap or a wave, eliminating the need for customers to hand over their payment card to a merchant, manually swipe it through a reader, or fumble for cash and coins. Contactless payments significantly increase convenience for consumers and are ideal for quick payment environments where speed is essential, such as quick serve restaurants, gas stations, drug stores, supermarkets and movie theatres. It also opens up new opportunities for accepting card-based payments in unattended sales environments, such as vending machines and tollways. The common protocol specification is based on international standards (ISO 14443) and has already been trialed and market-proven by MasterCard.