Nelo and Paymentology Team to Expand Google Pay Use in Mexico

Consumer payments platform Nelo has joined forces with Paymentology to drive financial inclusion in Mexico.

The collaboration, announced Tuesday (Sept. 12), will see Paymentology — a U.K.-based card issuer — supporting Nelo’s Mastercard in-person payments through Billetera de Google in Mexico, as well as with the launch of physical cards.

“Thanks to Paymentology, Nelo now has access to a fast and scalable infrastructure solution, enabling the smooth launch of its Tap to Pay solution through Google Wallet, along with its physical card,” the company said in a news release.

“With Paymentology’s support, Nelo can offer more people access to credit swiftly and reliably, making Nelo’s services accessible and efficient,” Paymentology said.

The release noted that the partnership is happening at a time when more than 40% of people in Mexico lack access to formal financial services like banking, savings, credit and insurance. Nelo said its work with Paymentology — and other similar collaborations — are crucial to helping bring financial services to unbanked people.

“We’re incredibly proud to be among the first to enable Google Pay in Mexico,” said Nelo founder and CEO Kyle Miller. “Empowering consumers across LatAm is our mission, and in response to our customers’ high demand, we now provide the means to pay in person.”

As PYMNTS wrote last month, tap-to-pay services have “tapped into consumers’ desire for speed at the register and to have some control over checkout — in effect taking the checkout with them no matter where they travel.”

There’s a benefit here for consumers and merchants alike, that report said: Consumers save time at checkout, and merchants see a much quicker turnover, which in turn boosts revenues.

PYMNTS Intelligence finds that the U.K. has been an especially fertile ground for contactless payments, with 58% of in-store shoppers paying using contactless cards in 2022, a 94% year-over-year increase.

But companies around the world have been increasingly turning to the technology, with recent announcements from PayPal, Square and JPMorgan.

“The latest earnings results from payments networks showed evidence of the continued traction of contactless payments as a worldwide phenomenon,” PYMNTS wrote.

For example, Mastercard’s second-quarter earnings showed that card-present transactions growth has been marked by increases in contactless penetration, with contactless now making up more than 60% of in-person switched purchase transactions.

Visa, meanwhile, reported earlier this year that tap-to-pay penetration of face-to-face transactions had reached 72%, excluding Russia and the U.S.