13th January 2020 – Visa and Samsung are banishing the dongle, teaming up on a handset that enables merchants to accept contactless payments without the need for any additional hardware.
Samsung has built a device, the Galaxy XCover Pro, that features Visa’s Tap to Phone technology, which enables handsets to be used for accepting NFC payments.
Visa says that making digital payments acceptance as simple as downloading an app will help millions of small and micro-sellers around the world grow their businesses.
While 40% of the national GDP in emerging markets is contributed by small and micro-sellers, fewer than 10% of these accept digital payments.
Visa says it is seeing strong interest in the Tap to Phone programme around the globe with 16 live pilots in nine key markets, including Costa Rica, Malaysia and Ukraine.
