Contactless credit cards near rollout
The central bank yesterday gave the green light to the rollout of contactless credit cards, ushering in an exciting new era of payment system in Bangladesh.
Contactless cards allow payment just by waving at the point of sale terminal -- without the need for any signature or PIN verification.
The cards are embedded with the near field communication technology that allows secured payment.
The point-of-sale terminal would have a compatible reader where the card needs to be waved over for authenticating transactions. The compatible merchant terminals can be identified by the contactless logo.
Payments amounting up to Tk 3,000 can be made using the contactless method, and it is up to the volition of the customer if he/she wants to complete the payment through this mode or the regular method of signing or keying in the PIN number.
The contactless cards will also have the EMV chip and magnetic stripes, so for payments upwards of Tk 3,000, the regular signature or PIN verification method will be used to authenticate transactions.
As of now, five banks have applied to the central bank for introducing contactless cards, said an official of the Bangladesh Bank.
The global payment gateways Visa and MasterCard have handed over the technology to local banks to roll out NFC-enabled cards from August, according to Mohammad Ali, deputy managing director of Pubali Bank.
"We have recently taken preparation to introduce the contactless cards by September this year," he added.
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