Visa have announced today that Visa debit and personal credit cardholders from AIB now have access to the newly launched Android Pay service.
Android Pay can be used with any of the contactless point-of-sale terminals which are already used by Visa cardholders thousands of times every day throughout Ireland.
At the moment, 1 in 5 face to face transactions are already contactless today in Ireland. Android Pay can be used to touch and pay wherever Visa contactless payment is accepted.
When you add a Visa personal credit or debit card to Android Pay, the actual payment card details are not stored on the device nor on Google’s servers. Instead, Visa generates a unique token which replaces the sensitive data found on a debit or personal credit card.
Because consumers are using their Visa cards within Android Pay, they will be covered by all the same benefits they currently enjoy with their debit and personal credit cards, including fraud protection for unauthorised purchases and widespread international acceptance.
A recent Digital Payment study carried out by Visa showed that there is high consumer demand for mobile payment solutions, with over 80% of people (age 18-24) in Ireland already using their mobile device to monitor their money or make payments.
In fact, Visa predicts that payments from mobile devices will comprise 50% of all transactions by 2020.
According to the study, people are already integrating mobile payments into their everyday lives with consumers in Ireland using it to pay bills (48%), buy a take-away meal (40%) or pay for bus or train tickets (43%). The launch of Android Pay means that, wherever people can use their contactless card, they can now use their Visa card in Android Pay.
Country Manager at Visa Ireland, Philip Konopik commented, "Consumer demand for mobile contactless payments combined with the fact that an overwhelming percentage of people in Ireland own a smartphone means that the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for a seismic shift from plastic to digital. With today’s launch of Android Pay, it is clear that mobile solutions will fast become a preferred way to use a personal credit or debit card."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
