KBC, CBC and KBC Brussels customers who have a Fitbit smartwatch or activity tracker can now use it to pay in shops that accept Maestro and have contactless payment available. The initiative makes KBC the first financial institution in Belgium to offer Fitbit Pay, a fast, secure, free and convenient contactless payment option for customers who lead an active life.

The launch adds to KBC’s commitment to pioneering new payment methods and follows the bank’s introduction of Google Pay and Garmin Pay.

Karin Van Hoecke, KBC's General Manager of Digital Transformation: ‘The launch of Fitbit Pay in Belgium is an ideal solution for KBC customers who lead an active life. We recently provided the possibility to pay with Garmin Pay and the feedback we've received has been very positive. A more general wearables payments trial where customers can pay with their watch, ring, bracelet or key holder, is now running and again the reactions are promising. By including Fitbit Pay in our range of payment solutions, we hope to satisfy even more active customers. It allows a seamless connection between sport and payments, with no need to carry cash or your bank card.'

Contactless slowly but surely becoming an established means of payment
•KBC made contactless payments possible being the first Belgian Bank offering contactless debit cards1. Today 91% of all KBC debit cards are contactless and 10% of the payments are contactless(compared to 3% a year before).
•Making payments with Google Paybecame possible in September 2017. Since then, more than 9.200customers at KBC, CBC and KBC Brussels actively use this payment method, each carrying out an average of two transactions a month.
•KBC customers1 with an Android device have also been able to make contactless payments with KBC Mobile since last summer, without having to download an extra app. Almost 8.500 customers used it making about 18.000 payments.
•Garmin Pay was launched in October 2018, since then almost 500 customers1 have enrolled the payment process on their device, doing more than 2300 transactions.
•In December 2018, KBC started a trial with 1.000wearable devices (watches, rings, key rings and bracelets). Trial progress and initial findings will be communicated separately in due course.

About Fitbit Pay
Fitbit Pay is supported in more than 20 countries by more than 160 banks and payment institutions, including the Mastercard and Visa networks. In Belgium, Fitbit Pay is available to KBC, CBC and KBC Brussels customers.

How to install and use Fitbit Pay
To use Fitbit Pay, the customer first has to add his KBC (Brussels)/CBC debit card to his Fitbit Pay Wallet on his Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition, Versa or Ionic device by following simple steps in the Fitbit mobile app. Making payments in shops that accept contactless payments is really easy. Users press and hold the left-side button until the digital payment card is seen on the device screen, then - when prompted - enter their four-digit PIN code and hold the watch near the payment terminal until a confirmation of payment appears.

Fitbit Pay transactions use tokenisation, a type of payment security technology that replaces card holders' account details with a unique digital ID (a ‘token’), ensuring that the user's card information is never shared with merchants or with Fitbit. For added security, users have to choose a PIN during device set-up.