Alliance Activities : Publications : Contactless Payments: Proposed Implementation Recommendations

Contactless Payments:  Proposed Implementation Recommendations

Publication Date: January 2018

We live in a rapidly evolving digital world—a world in which consumers are usually connected.  This increased connectivity is altering consumer expectations.  Consumers now want payment to be faster, more secure, and seamless.  Issuers can meet these changing expectations by offering contactless payments.

Merchants can benefit from the growth of digital commerce by preparing to accept digital payments across channels—through e-commerce, via in-app payment, and at the point-of sale (POS) using contactless payment.  Contactless payment brings multiple benefits to merchants, including faster checkout, increased transaction volumes, higher consumer spending, and reduced cash handling costs.  Contactless also enables a new generation of mobile payments.  Contactless payment is particularly applicable to high-throughput low-value retail environments, where cash is currently the predominant payment method.  For such merchants, adding contactless capability through terminal upgrades or simple plug-in devices makes sense.

This white paper focuses on some of the key recommendations for implementing contactless and Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled form factors (such as cards, mobile phones, rings, and key fobs) and POS acceptance devices in the North American market.  The white paper covers topics and best practices specific to merchants, issuers and processors, including:

  • Cardholder education and experience with different contactless form factors
  • Contactless payment devices and POS infrastructure in the market
  • Contactless ROI
  • Employee training
  • Contactless acceptance terminal technology
  • Data quality
  • Testing and certification
  • Mobile contactless payment implementation

Where relevant, the paper provides implementation recommendations and suggests industry contacts with whom to engage to implement contactless payments successfully.

About this White Paper

This white paper was developed by the Secure Technology Alliance Payments Council to discuss the challenges of issuing, accepting and processing ISO/IEC 14443/NFC contactless transactions and to help the market work through pre-EMV and post-EMV challenges to promote contactless issuance and acceptance.  Secure Technology Alliance and  U.S. Payments Forum participants involved in the development of this white paper included:  American ExpressCardtekCPI Card GroupDiscover Financial Services; FiservG+D Mobile SecurityGemalto; GlobalPlatform; IDEMIAInfineon Technologies; Ingenico GroupMastercardMetropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)MULTOS InternationalNXP Semiconductors; Philip Andreae & Associates; TSYS; Visa.