Minimum card spend requirements on the way out
The next stage in the evolution of contactless payments will be driven by the removal of minimum spending requirements for card payments, according to RFi Consulting.RFi Consulting managing director Lance Blockley said fast food retailer Subway had recently removed its minimum spend requirement."It is worth it because of the efficiencies they get from contactless payments," Blockley said.He said he did not see any prospect of the A$100 maximum spending limit being removed any time soon."The police have some concerns about contactless payment cards and there would be resistance to any move to raise the upper limit," he said.With 20 million contactless cards on issue and 320,00 contactless payment terminals in service, contactless payments are running at 100 million transactions a month.Coles has reported that 70 per cent of the payments made in its stores using Visa or MasterCard cards are contactless.Westpac reported earlier in the year that 54 per cent of its customers' debit transactions were contactless.