MasterCard Drives Contactless Expansion In APMEA Region

MasterCard has announced that its contactless payments technology PayPass has experienced great growth across the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region in 2012. The payments giant has also been successful in advancing payments innovation in the region. MasterCard Worldwide has announced today record growth of its contactless payments technology, MasterCard PayPass, across the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region in 2012, citing a 28% year-on-year increase in merchant locations.

MasterCard’s PayPass contactless payment network now boasts nearly 700,000 merchant locations in 51 countries as of Q4 2012. Growth data reflects a strong demand from consumers for fast and convenient alternative to cash for everyday purchases in region, including those in emerging markets like Vietnam, which last month launched contactless payments for the first time.

Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, South Africa and United Arab Emirates were credited as key contributors to growth in the APMEA region, and hotbeds for innovation in contactless payments. In United Arab Emirates, MasterCard collaborated with Network International, the region’s leading acquirer, to expand its contactless payments infrastructure, installing MasterCard PayPass terminals across more than 1000 stores in 2012, and paving the way for contactless mobile payments in the region.

In addition to exponential increases in adoption, innovation in contactless payments underpinned the growth of PayPass across the region in the last year and will continue into the new year. East Africa’s largest retailer, Nakumatt, will introduce the multi-currency EMV MasterCard PayPass Prepaid loyalty card to over one million of its loyalty program members in the coming months. The collaboration signaled the largest prepaid merchant agreement for MasterCard in the Middle East and Africa region, to date. In South Africa, the rollout of Standard Bank’s Muvo card with PayPass, brought cutting edge technology to Ethekwini Municipality’s bus transit system. And, in the Middle East, Fransabank’s MasterCard PayPass Card won the “Best Contactless Innovation Award in the Middle East”.

As MasterCard’s investment in Africa continues, it can only mean that the region will continue to benefit from the payments giant’s latest innovative products.