VeriFone has signed a deal to supply more than 10,000 wireless payment devices for use primarily by Mexico's 7000 petroleum stations.
The order is a key component in the first phase of an initiative by Fimpe, a joint venture of 15 Mexican banks, to triple the installed base of credit and debit card acceptance systems in Mexico from 150,000 to 450,000 over the next five years.
VeriFone's GPRS-equipped Vx 610 wireless payment systems will provide consumers the ability to make pay-at-the-car credit and debit purchases electronically without letting their cards out of their sight. Previously, credit purchases required consumers to hand over their cards to attendants who took them into a back office for processing. Debit purchases requiring PIN entry were not an option.
Fimpe, the Electronic Payment Media Infrastructure Fund, was formed by the Banks Association of Mexico (ABM) to expand the use of electronic payments in the country. Although more than 34 million debit cards are in use, Mexican consumers currently use them almost exclusively for ATM transactions. Fimpe will buy and distribute to retailers more than 300,000 electronic payment systems over the next five years. The first phase of the initiative is aimed at petrol stations and pharmacies.