Visa pushes for contactless technology in Mexico

The possibility of making electronic payments without the need of inserting or sliding a card is an idea that has begun to gain momentum in Mexico. According to Visa Mexico, they are working with banks and authorities in the mass distribution of contactless readers .

“In Mexico, there are 1.2 million points of sale with payment terminals and 30% have already been enabled with the contactless technology. We're trying to attack the market more aggressively. We're meeting with businesses, banks, and with the regulator because we see a need in changing the terminals as quickly as possible,” said Juan Carlos Guillermety, Vice-president of products at Visa Mexico.

“In the next 12 to 18 months we're planning to have half of the Mexican market enabled to cover in three to five years 100 percent of the market,” he added.

The Visa executive mentioned that while the contactless technology is widespread in Europe, the infrastructure is just being laid down in Latin America. However, contactless technology is already in use, as is the case of Samsung Pay , which allows owners of Samsung phones to pay without the need of a card.

am