Payment giant Mastercard has revealed plan to make “tap and go” a standard by 2023 across Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa to ensure greater payment consistency.
The initiative is expected to enable the users leverage digital advances which offer better security and convenience.
The company said that it will carry out multiple card and terminal upgrades across global regions starting this year to deliver contactless card payment technology to more people.
The step will enable the cardholder to ‘tap’ their card or device to pay.
The usage of contactless payments, which is guided by dynamic EMV grade authentication to prevent fraudulent attempts, is gradually increasing across the globe.
Currently, the tap and pay standard is active in more than 8 million locations across 111 countries.
Mastercard has planned that all new acceptance terminals in the Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific will have EMV chip and contactless enabled from October this year.
All new cards issued in these regions from April 2019 will have EMV chip and contactless technology.
It aims to make all merchant terminals EMV chip and contactless enabled by April 2023.
Mastercard chief security solutions officer Ajay Bhalla said: “Our vision is a world where everyone can simply and safely tap their card or device when paying in a store and quickly be on their way.
“This marks a significant step towards greater consistency, security and speed for everyday payments while laying the groundwork for future innovation.”
