Contactless payments are far more than just sanitary

There are more reasons to love contactless payments beyond the convenience that it offers consumers as a result of the pandemic. One reason is the extra layers of cybersecurity and fraud controls provided to the customer and the businesses accepting this form of payment.

Contactless payments have been on the rise, but COVID-19 accelerated the need for and adoption of a safe, secure way to pay for everything – from groceries to takeout meals and even fuel. In the U.S., for example, overall use of contactless payments has risen 150% since March 2019. In addition, 49 countries have announced contactless payment transaction limit increases, ranging from 25% to 400%, with an average of 131%.

It’s important to keep in mind that contactless payments are not inherently more or less secure than other payment methods. The security of a payment acceptance channel continues to be most dependent upon the way technology and business processes controls are implemented within an organization.

That being said, the current consumer and business demands for contactless payment channels afford organizations the opportunity to build new solutions with security at the forefront or to append new workflows to legacy business processes where security and integrity best practices might not exist today. For example, when integrated within an existing payment process, mobile authentication controls such as a Face ID or a PIN code can provide some additional assurance that the person using the product is likely the real cardholder or account holder.

Additionally, companies can integrate with digital identity verification platforms to further authenticate the identity of a user and authorize an attempt to register and pay for goods and services via remote or contactless methods. This eliminates the need for the person to be physically present for transactions and enables them to engage in services via mobile app or website.

For businesses, adopting contactless payment acceptance channels provides an added benefit. Several solution providers in the contactless payment ecosystem leverage tokenization, a process that replaces real payment data, such as credit card numbers, with a non-sensitive unique value (or token). When implemented and validated, tokenization strategies provide organizations the opportunity to limit the number of systems processing payment information, which can simplify compliance efforts. When a tokenization strategy is properly implemented and validated, a business may be able to reduce the likelihood of a security incident compromising payment information during future security incidents.

There are many benefits surrounding the growing acceptance of contactless payments. Businesses that are digitally transforming to meet the new needs and expectations of their customers especially stand to benefit from offering a solution that protects their customers – both from a security and data privacy angle as well as a immunological perspective.