The credit card companies raise the limit for contactless payments from 40 to 80 CHF. This applies until further notice, it is said. But this is likely to become permanent.
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CHF 80 can now be obtained without contact.
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Crises like the corona virus pandemic often act as a catalyst for developments that already existed but have not yet become widespread. Contactless payments with credit and debit cards (NFC, near-field communication) without entering a PIN are currently experiencing such an acceleration. People are afraid of catching the corona virus if they handle cash or type a PIN code into a payment terminal. The alternative is NFC – and it is widely used by consumers.
Many «players» had to pull together
The credit card industry apparently wants to use this trend. She is currently working on increasing the contactless payment limit from CHF 40 to CHF 80. The new payment threshold in the shops should apply from mid-April at the latest. To do this, the numerous “players” in the card business had to pull together: These included credit card organizations such as Visa or Mastercard, so-called issuers such as Swisscard or Cembra and “acquirers” such as Concardis or Aduno.
The new limit applies “until further notice,” writes Swisscard, a joint venture between Credit Suisse and American Express. However, it would come as no surprise if it became permanent, so the credit card industry would stick to the new limit.
In order to reach a decision, the issuers will probably weigh two cash flows in the coming weeks: on the one hand, the additional income that results from the higher limit, and on the other hand, the costs that could arise from an increase in fraud cases. In addition, users have to make friends with the fact that card thieves may withdraw a higher amount from their account than under the previous regime.
Thanks to their sophisticated IT infrastructure, card companies should have some control over the risk of fraud. For example, it is noticeable when a credit card thief makes purchases in a short cadence that differ greatly from the consumer behavior of the rightful owner.
So it would come as no surprise if the credit card companies came to a positive conclusion of the experiment in the coming months. Especially since they are currently also experiencing loss of earnings because, for example, it is difficult to travel. Bank customers use credit cards particularly frequently when they are on the move.
Saving at ATMs
In any case, banks are also interested in the fact that their customers use less cash. Clients who buy banknotes at the counter are now an abomination; Maintaining the approximately 7,000 ATMs is also complex and expensive. In any case, the financial institutions would still be so happy if they could thin out the network of these machines somewhat, especially since payments have been declining for about two years.
In a recent interview with the NZZ, Martin Scholl, head of the Zürcher Kantonalbank, was at least pleased about the changing habits of the Swiss: “Cashless payment is no longer necessary for advertising, customers use the corresponding offers themselves,” he said. All stores would now offer this offer, mostly regardless of the amount due.
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