Credit-card technology on fast-forward

New Zealand's first "tap and go" credit cards will be in use tomorrow, speeding up low-value transactions by removing the need for card-swiping, entering pin numbers or writing signatures.

Users of ANZ's Rugby World Cup MasterCards will be the first in the country able to make tap and go payments of less than $80 anywhere they can find a corresponding terminal.

Tap and go payments are already being introduced in Australia, and are popular with outlets such as fast food restaurants, bars, cafes and petrol stations where purchases are quite small and customers often have to queue.

Their popularity lies in the transaction speed – two seconds from the moment the shopper touches the card against the terminal.

Even opening a wallet will be unnecessary because the radio antennae embedded in the chip cards can work through leather.

No wallet-clogging receipt is generated from the transaction.

ANZ executive Mark Wilkshire said the first tap and go terminals had now been installed in Auckland's Eden Park and Wellington's Westpac Stadium, where they would help reduce the halftime queues for beer and pies at sports events.

The bank was working to develop "corridors" of retailers around the stadiums in the run-up to the Rugby World Cup, but eventually the technology will be available at more and more retailers.

Wilkshire said: "We are the first bank to bring contactless technology to the New Zealand market and the Rugby World Cup is a great opportunity to do that."

Although one disadvantage is that the contactless payment technology makes a credit card more vulnerable to misuse by a thief, cardholders are protected by MasterCard's "zero fraud liability" protection, Wilkshire said.

The launch means ANZ has stolen a jump on its big bank rivals. It has already been issuing prepaid and reloadable MasterCards with the embedded antennae, though it has not been telling customers about the cards' contactless feature.

Wilkshire expected the technology would help the bank win customers from rivals. "We expect to have good take-up," he said. "We expect many thousands of customers to come on board for the cards."

However, he said a rewards programme including special Rugby World Cup prizes such as run-outs with the All Blacks would be as attractive to many as the cutting-edge technology.

The ANZ issue also represents a coup for MasterCard which is seeking to win market share off Visa, but just as importantly, provides a means to take transaction share off its other rivals – cash and eftpos.

Albert Naffah, MasterCard's country manager for New Zealand, said: "It's even quicker than having exact change. Eventually it will be ubiquitous."

There was no reason why contactless payments technology required a traditional card format.

Without the need to swipe a chip, the technology could be incorporated into watches, mobile phones or jewellery, Naffah said, and this was already happening overseas.

- © Fairfax NZ News