Contactless Payments in the U.S.: Guides for Merchants and Issuers

Publication Date: January 2017

• Click here to download the merchant guide infographic
• Click here to download the issuer guide infographic

Contactless payments have become one of the hottest ways to pay globally with adoption in countries such as the U.K., Canada and Australia growing every day. As U.S. merchants and issuers look to move towards faster, more convenient payments, the Smart Card Alliance developed two infographics as merchant and issuer guides to contactless payments in the U.S.

The infographic series is designed to help merchants and issuers understand the value and benefits contactless payments provide, including:

For merchants: improved transaction speeds; consistent consumer experience; additional payment devices; strong security; “cool” factor; reduced cash handling; increased spend per transaction; point of entry throughput; use of current infrastructure; new cardholder verification methods; better consumer experience
For issuers: improved portfolio utilization; straightforward dual-interface deployment; global interoperability; enhanced security; complementary strategy to mobile payments; new opportunities; top-of-wallet status; improved dual-interface cards economics; faster transactions

The infographic series is based on the Smart Card Alliance white paper, “Contactless EMV Payments: Benefits for Consumers, Merchants and Issuers.”

About the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council

The Smart Card Alliance Payments Council focuses on facilitating the adoption of chip-enabled payments and payment applications in the U.S. through education programs for consumers, merchants, issuers, acquirers/processors, government regulators, mobile telecommunications providers and payments service providers. The group is bringing together payments industry stakeholders, including payments industry leaders, merchants and suppliers, and is working on projects related to implementing EMV, contactless payments, NFC-enabled payments and applications, mobile payments, and chip-enabled e-commerce. The Council’s primary goal is to inform and educate the market about the value of chip-enabled payments in improving the security of the payments infrastructure and in enhancing the value of payments and payment-related applications for industry stakeholders. Council participation is open to any Smart Card Alliance member who wishes to contribute to the Council projects