Contactless payment system gaining traction — Mastercard

MANILA, Philippines — Contactless payment methods are now widely recognized by Filipino consumers even though cash remains the main payment mode in the country, according to a report by Mastercard Philippines.

Rowell Del Fierro, country manager of Mastercard Philippines, said the global technology company is committed to drive contactless solutions and digital payment usage among Filipino consumers and businesses.

This is in support of the thrust of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to promote the digitalization of payments in the country and to convert 50 percent of the total volume of retail payments into digital form by 2023.

According to the report, more than 70 percent of those with contactless cards used their contactless card in-store over the past year with 40 percent making a contactless payment purchase at least once a week.

Additionally, 40 percent of those who did not use contactless card payments in the past year cited security concerns as their reason for not using the payment method more often.

The result of the study showed that hacking and wireless skimming were the top security concerns for 86 percent and 82 percent of consumers, respectively.

A key highlight in the study is the important roles that different stakeholders play in helping consumers to adopt this new payment technology as 21 percent of cardholders first learned to use their contactless cards through self-discovery.

On the other hand, 19 percent of the respondents said they obtained instructions from bank employees and 17 percent from cashiers.