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Czechs making contactless payments amounting CZK 700 on average. Contactless cards will also be issued by UniCredit Bank starting this summer

Czechs make contactless payments in the average amount of CZK 700 per a payment, paying a half, CZK 350 on average, for food. This is indicated by the data from the network of 12,000 contactless terminals of UniCredit Bank. Also its clients will have the opportunity to pay by card easier and faster, whether at home or on holiday. Since the middle of July, UniCredit Bank have introduced contactless payment cards. This technology will be implemented in all of the newly issued cards. Existing clients may ask to have their cards replaced free of charge.

UniCredit Bank have started issuing contactless payment cards of MasterCard from the middle of July 2015, and Visa cards from August. Moreover, UniCredit Bank has one of the widest networks of contactless payment terminals, with merchants operating more than 12 thousand of such terminals. Czechs make contactless payments in relatively high amounts, around CZK 700 on average. This is primarily due to frequent payments at petrol stations, which usually amount to CZK 800. On the contrary, they pay only CZK 350 on average for food and less than two hundred Czech koruna in fast foods.

All of the new cards currently issued to UniCredit Bank clients will automatically have the contactless technology built in, and existing clients may ask to have their cards replaced free of charge. Besides containing a contactless chip, the cards will still have a magnetic strip. Hence, new cards may be used for payments with all merchants, for withdrawal of cash from ATMs and for payments on the Internet, as the clients used to do using their regular cards.

Contactless payments are a way to pay for everyday shopping easily and without waiting. All you have to do is to present the contactless card to the reader; no PIN is required for payments up to CZK 500 or similar amounts in other currencies. The entire payment will be made in a few seconds, as much as six times faster than a regular payment by card. Higher amounts can be paid using contactless cards, too; however, PIN code has to be entered in the card terminal in such a case.

Cards work only in an immediate distance (around up to 2 cm) from the terminal, which makes reading of the card by another device impossible. The amount of the purchase is always deducted only once, even if the client presents the card several times by mistake. For verification purposes, the first payment by card must always be made in a regular manner; in case of frequent transactions, PIN has to be entered for small purchases also. Therefore, contactless payments are very secure and transparent. Every payment is recorded in the Internet banking by default. In case of discrepancies, a complaint may be filed in relation thereto as in the case of a regular payment, even without a receipt.