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Mastercard works towards facilitating contactless payment limits in Middle East and Africa

Tuesday 7 April 2020 13:18 CET | News

Mastercard has announced that it is championing efforts to facilitate contactless payment limits across the Middle East and Africa region.

The decision was taken as people look for safer ways to pay in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative is in line with recommendations from global and regional health authorities and governments to practice social distancing that has led a growing number of merchants to encourage consumers to pay with contactless over cash to avoid human-to-human contact. 

In MEA, the company has worked with various industry partners and sectors in multiple markets to facilitate the use of digital and contactless payment tech in an effort to offer safety, security, speed, and convenience in the payment experience for cardholders. In 2019, the MEA region saw more than 200% growth in contactless transactions, and today almost 1 in 9 Mastercard transactions at POS terminals in MEA are contactless. 

Moreover, Mastercard is working closely with its partners to enable businesses and retailers to implement contactless limit increases efficiently. Cardholder verification method (CVM) limits are being facilitated in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mauritius. Cardholders should look for the contactless symbol on the front or back of their credit or debit cards to determine whether they have a contactless-enabled card or can add their debit or credit card to their mobile wallets on their contactless-enabled devices to tap and pay where contactless payments are accepted.


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Keywords: MasterCard, safety, security, payments , transactions , Middle East, Africa, contactless payments, cards, merchants, CVM, debit card, credit card
Categories: Payments & Commerce
Companies:
Countries: Africa, Middle East
This article is part of category

Payments & Commerce