MasterCard reveals that Australia leads the way with nearly two-thirds of all MasterCard in-store transactions being contactless. MasterCard Australia also experienced a 45% growth for unique tappers between 2013 and 2014.
Singapore is fast gaining on Australia. MasterCard Singapore recorded an all-time high for contactless payments, driven by the number of MasterCard contactless users in the country, which more than doubled in 2014 compared to 2013.
Hong Kong has also seen the benefit of a strong marketing push with the growth of contactless transactions more than quadrupling in 2014 YoY.
New Zealanders are increasingly using contactless technology. MasterCard research cites that 8 out of 10 of users say it’s because the technology saves time (62%) and is convenient and easy to use (58%).
Predominantly cash-based in the past, developing markets have had a definite shift to new payment technologies, with mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) being one of the key drivers across Asia/Pacific in 2014. In short, mPOS technology enables merchants to convert their smartphone or tablets into a terminal to accept payment cards.
According to research by the Annapolis Consulting Group, the use of mPOS worldwide is estimated to grow from 8 million in 2013 to 18 million in 2017. This will be led, in part, by the recent rollouts of MasterCard’s mPOS technology in Asia/Pacific. Therefore, in Indonesia, MasterCard collaborated with BNI and Telkomsel to provide mPOS payment services to Equity Life Indonesia insurance agents. TaiShin Bank collaborated with MasterCard in Taiwan and took the lead in launching the an mPOS terminal in Taiwan, combining contactless, chip and magnetic stripe function. In Vietnam, MasterCard worked with Sacombank to equip small merchants at Ben Thanh Market with mPOS terminals enabling merchants to accept not only cash but credit and debit card payments. In the Philippines, MasterCard partnered with Globe to empower small and medium businesses (SMBs) to accept debit and credit card payments via mPOS.
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