By Mc Donald Chapalapata, Contributor
National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc Friday launched a new payment technology innovation called ‘Contactless payment’ where customers will not need to swipe or insert their cards when conducting payment transactions.
NBM plc Head of Cards & eBanking William Kaunda said in Blantyre that as market needs and trends keep changing, the bank will continue to innovate and bring forward products and services that are aligned to these trends.
“Customers with a contactless card are able to make Point of Sale (POS) purchases and ATM withdrawals by simply holding the card in front of the payment device instead of swiping or inserting. Contactless payment is a convenient, smart and fast way of transacting on NBM POS machines,” said Kaunda.
Making a presentation to members of the press on the new innovation, NBM Manager, Cards Acquiring, Stewart Tepelunde said widely used payment instruments include debit cards, credit cards, smart phones and other Near Field Communication (NFC) form factors and they all bear the wave sign.
“Customers can make purchases by simply holding their cards in front of the payment device, rather than swiping or inserting it, making transactions faster, more convenient for both the customer and the merchant. For low-value payments, NO PIN or any other type of verification is required,” said Tepelunde adding that there is low risk of card cloning since there is no contact with the payment device.
He said low- value payments default limit is K5,000 and will only ask for a pin after the fourth transaction as a security measure.
Tepelunde also said any transactions above the low-value payment default limit will prompt a card user to enter a pin.
“The default maximum amount a card holder can transact through Contactless payment is K50,000 and any amount above this limit will prompt the card to be inserted,” explained Tepelunde.
He said NBM plc point of Sale (POS) devices have been enabled to accept Contactless cards. The new system can be used to pay for services in Hotels, supermarkets, restaurants, car hires and many more.
“We have the infrastructure and human resource to enable us to do this, but, even more important is the fact that we have the customer at heart in all we do. Customer Centricity and Digitization are significant pillars in our strategy and we shall continue to incorporate both in our long term and short term initiatives,” emphasized Kaunda.
If NBM says the maximum withdrawal is K50000 above which one will required to use a PIN, and that it is only on the fourth transaction one will be required to use a PIN, is the bank implying that a customer should expect to lose up to K150000 in the even of loss of a debit card?