Contactless payments mean smaller queues at merchant outlets due to shorter times spent at tills.

Bulgarians will be paying with nearly 1.2 million contactless cards this year. This is shown by an analysis of UniCredit Bulbank presented by the bank’s experts today. The card market is expected to develop at a fast pace and the number of POS terminals allowing contactless payment is expected reach 7,500.

Currently about 4,000 such POS terminals have been installed at various merchant outlets in Bulgaria and the service is used by approximately 60 thousand clients. The market in contactless payments is developing really fast all over Europe, where active cards have reached nearly 80 million and the number of the new generation POS terminals is already 1.2 million.

UniCredit Bulbank is already offering its clients the opportunity to make faster, easier and convenient payments. With the new debit and credit cards Visa Classic, MasterCard Standard, Debit MasterCard and V Pay, cardholders can make contactless purchases at POS terminals without entering PIN for up to 25 leva and without signing a receipt. For amounts exceeding 25 leva, clients need to enter their PIN as well.

“UniCredit Bulbank is well-positioned as the most innovative bank on the market and we are working actively for the development of the new technologies, which are going to change the banking sector significantly in the next 4 to 5 years”, said Levon Hampartzoumian, CEO of UniCredit Bulbank.

In fact, contactless cards involve an extra feature which allows holders to pay in a contactless mode. However, these cards can also be used for payments in the traditional way – at POS terminals with chip or magnetic stripe readers and obligatory PIN entry, at ATMs, on the Internet. The payment mode depends entirely on the choice of the cardholder.

How does a contactless payment happen? The cashier enters the amount at the POS terminal, the client waves the card in front of the designated area of the terminal, the terminal gives a sound and light indication, and the purchase is done.

The latest market analyses show that the use of contactless payments reduces waiting times at merchant outlets because of the faster passage through the tills and some merchants even report higher turnovers due to the greater number of people they are able to serve within one day.

More information for clients:

UniCredit Bulbank, Call Centre

Phone: 0700 1 84 84

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 963, flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch