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Canadian Merchant Industry News

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Industry News

Visa's 'Wave to Pay' program allows commuters to pay for transit with a wave of their credit card

By Rachel Stolzberg

Visa joins MasterCard to offer contactless mass transit payment option.

22/09/2010 - Following a successful trial run at this year's Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, Visa will soon launch a pilot program allowing commuters to forgo purchasing mass transit tickets by swiping at wireless debit machines.

Visa cardholders traveling by subway, train or bus in New York City can now wave their credit card or smartphone in front of a contactless sensor to pay for their fare. Since June, MasterCard has been testing a similar program on popular routes. Its success led competitor Visa to join the program.

To participate, cardholders simply approach a turnstile and wave their credit card or smartphone in front of a sensor, taking on credit card debt in exchange for fare.

The credit card issuer has also begun a similar program in Los Angeles. However, west coast residents will have the option to use a special prepaid debit card, rather than taking on debt to ride the subway or a bus.

Earlier this summer, Visa also announced that it would begin working with Bank of America to enable smartphone payments for everyday purchases from clothing to groceries at various retailers. These phones will handle transit payments, as well.

Canadian Bankers Association develops blueprint for mobile payments

15/05/2012

The number of smartphone owners in Canada now represents half of all wireless users, and many retailers have already installed point-of-sale terminals enabled with the technology that can accept mobile payments.

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EMV payments cards more widely circulated

11/05/2012

Merchants that have not yet invested in point-of-sale terminals capable of accepting EMV-chip cards might feel more pressure soon, since the number of cardholders is growing. Data recently released by EMVCo reported that 45 percent of all cards in the world contain EMV microprocessing chips

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Retailers want mobile POS systems, study shows

02/05/2012

The surveyed merchants believe the mobile credit card processing devices will help them provide better customer service and greater payment convenience since they won't be restricted to the front of the store.

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