Oct. 31, 2018
Garmin International Inc., Mastercard and FitPay Inc. announced that several top European banks, including KBC Bank and Insurance in Belgium, Rabobank and ABN Amro in the Netherlands and BNL Gruppo BNP in Italy will begin offering Garmin Pay contactless payment on Maestro cards.
Ten of Garmin's latest smartwatches have digital wallet and contactless payment features that allow consumers to make secure contactless payments at point-of-sale terminals that are enabled for near field communications.
Garmin Pay, originally launched in November 2017, allows users to make contactless payments without a wallet or mobile phone by integrating a digital wallet with Garmin Connect technology. The feature is available on 10 smartwatches, including the D2 Delta S, D2 Delta, D2 Delta PX, fenix 5S Plus, fenix 5 Plus, fenix 5X Plus, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, vivoactive 3 and vivoactive 3 Music.
Garmin Pay is available in 26 countries through 200 issuers. Additional issuers will soon be added to the new contactless program, according to the announcement.
Garmin Pay uses FitPay's Token Requester Management Platform, which allows cardholders to securely add card information to devices using the FitPay token management solution.
Mastercard, in a February 2018 study, found that 24 percent of Europeans plan to use tap and go payments using a wearable smartwatch, key ring or bracelet. Contactless spending has jumped 145 percent since 2017 on Mastercard and Maestro.
Topics: Card Brands, Contactless / NFC, Mobile Banking, Mobile/Digital Wallet, Region: EMEA
Sponsored Links: