Dutch banks ABN AMRO and ING will launch ‘contactless’ cards enabled with Maestro PayPass in the Netherlands by mid-2013. The Netherlands will be added to the list of over 41 countries where MasterCard’s contactless payments are available. With the decision of ING and ABN AMRO to migrate their card portfolio to MaestroPayPass cards, the Netherlands will have the largest PayPass debit card footprint in Europe.
“Consumers and retailers really appreciate the speed and ease of contactless payments. There is a clear need for easy to use and efficient payment products”, says Gijs Schreuder, Director of Consumer Payments at ABN AMRO. Today, despite the number of card payment options, 63% of all point of sale payments in the Netherlands is still conducted with cash. Arjan Bol, ING’s Director of Payments, said: “We expect that with this quick and easy way to pay, consumers will be less likely to pay small ticket items with cash. This fits banks’ and merchants’ wish for safe and efficient payments.”
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Despite being the main method of payment the country’s cash usage has been in decline in recent years with a steady increase in debit card payments, a recent study has revealed (http://www.dnb.nl/binaries/DNB_OS_1002_tcm46-271572.pdf). ING and ABN AMRO are hoping to be able to further their cashless offer in the near future. The banks expect that by the second half of 2013, consumers will be able to pay with their smart phones at the cash register.
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