NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Most issuers in the U.S. have so far held back from rolling out contactless or dual-interface cards, but merchant acceptance has been quietly building over the past few years, despite some large U.S. retailers balking at accepting contactless cards and NFC-enabled devices.
And with a majority of U.S. merchants’ point-of-sale terminals now equipped with the hardware needed for contactless acceptance, and with indications that consumers might be more willing to tap cards than smartphones or wearables, industry observers say card issuance is the missing piece. At present, contactless and NFC transactions make up only a very small percentage of total card transactions in the U.S.
Backers of the technology are touting contactless payments’ potential to replace a significant share of cash transactions and increase card transaction volumes. The growth of merchant contactless readiness in the U.S. is fueling speculation about when issuers will begin large-scale rollouts.
