Visa Europe demonstrate worlds first EMV contactless cash replacement solution

Leveraging the investment in the EMV Chip and PIN infrastructure the Visa Contactless solution enables consumers to simply wave their Visa card at a contactless terminal and payment is completed in less than half a second. The solution was demonstrated using a standard Visa Smart Debit and Credit (VSDC) application, an Ingenico Point of Sale terminal connected to a Vivotech contactless reader. A similar demonstration was also shown using the Nokia 3220 mobile phone equipped with a tailored Nokia Near Field Communications (NFC) shell cover enabling contactless payments The solution, which provides Visa cardholders with a payment method that is faster and more secure than cash, will also allow Visa Members to increase transaction volumes through increased acceptance and usage in high-volume, low transaction value merchant segments where cash has traditionally been dominant, such as fast-food, convenience stores, public transportation and vending machines. Merchants will also benefit from reduced checkout times. EMV technology, combined with the existing ISO 14443 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) specification enables the perfect balance of cardholder convenience and security. The Visa Contactless card can be programmed by the Issuing bank to enable the ultra fast, offline authorised contactless payment for transactions below a maximum value and up to a total offline limit that they specify and control. To enable instant payment, the cardholder is not prompted for their PIN, and instead security is enabled by transaction counters that force the cardholder to perform an online authorised Chip and PIN transaction should they reach the pre-authorised offline limit specified by their bank, thereby preventing indefinite usage of the card if lost or stolen. Higher value transactions would continue to be performed with full Chip and PIN authentication. It is anticipated that cardholders will use Visa Contactless cards on a daily basis for both high and low value payments and whenever the cardholder performs a full Chip and PIN transaction, the security counters are reset. This means that cardholders will rarely reach the offline limit for low value contactless transactions and be forced to fall back to Chip and PIN. Contactless payments were also demonstrated with a Nokia 3220 mobile phone equipped with a tailored Nokia Near Field Communications (NFC) shell cover. The Visa EMV application is securely stored in an integrated smart card controller in the NFC shell, and is fully compatible with the Visa Contactless card. NFC enables touch-based interactions between mobile phones as well as other consumer electronic devices, and the demonstration highlights the rapidly emerging opportunities for U-Commerce or universal-commerce, where payments can be completed anytime, anywhere. NFC technology will facilitate the convergence of mobile phones and payment cards creating value to consumers and merchants alike. Ingenico is the first terminal supplier to have implemented the Visa Contactless Low Value payment application into its new terminals.