Contis, the fast-moving European alternative banking and payments group is launching across its entire UK and European client base, the delivery of Visa contactless prepaid and debit cards.
This initiative confirms the competitive edge of Contis’ capabilities over other providers. It controls all elements of the delivery supply chain; and through its own processing platform, can easily deliver additional products and features to a head of the rapidly changing world of fintech and legislation.
Contactless technology is now seen as a ‘must have’ for card holders. The main influence is the movement within high volume, low spend retail outlets and transport systems to incorporate this technology.
The UK’s transactional take-up of contactless has been staggering, and any absence of this capability is now seen as a major inhibitor to a card’s acceptance and usage. In the prepaid world where the business economics are closely linked to transactional activity, the lack of such key functionality will result in significant reductions of usage levels and increase in switching providers by existing card holders.
In July, Europe reached the major milestone of 1 billion contactless1 payments made over the past 12 months. The UK is a big reason for this success and leads the continent for the number of contactless cards issued, which now is in excess of 50 million.
Following its successful rollout of contactless, the biggest merchant for this technology continues to be Transport for London. Over 157 million journeys2 have been paid for via contactless to date, of which the majority of transactions were made on Visa cards. It’s a great success story and proof that with the flexibility and customers’ ease of use, contactless can bring commercial advantages for all merchants operating in different environments.
Peter Cox Founder and Executive Chairman of Contis Group said
“Contis have spent millions in ensuring our capabilities are in line with modern consumer and commercial organisations’ needs. Our investment in developing contactless across our global platform capabilities is seen as a significant step; and will allow our brand partners to offer their customers the latest technology and convenience at the point of delivery.
From a good idea to a necessary deliverable, the move to wearable and alternative contactless payments is a feature that is being driven by strong user demand. To maintain customer loyalty, we are more than ever, now in a stronger position to adapt to any future changes in this industry”.