Consumers in Latin America and the Caribbean are choosing contactless for its clear benefits: touch free, fast, convenient, and secure
Visa announced a new milestone for its digital solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, as of June 2021, the company reached 25% contactless adoption in the region, which means one out of every four face-to-face transactions is now contactless. There are also five countries above the 50% adoption threshold: Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and Bermuda – and markets like Peru and Colombia follow suit with more than 40% contactless penetration. Consumer preference is clearly a result of contactless payments enabling a fast, convenient, safe and secure experience without the need for consumers to touch the checkout terminal.
“We embarked on this contactless transformation journey back in 2018, because we truly believed migrating to contactless and its underlying technology had the power to be a catalyst for the next generation of payments in our region”
“We embarked on this contactless transformation journey back in 2018, because we truly believed migrating to contactless and its underlying technology had the power to be a catalyst for the next generation of payments in our region,” said Ricardo Tafur, Vice President of Consumer Products for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean. “The pandemic certainly resulted in an acceleration of our efforts that were already underway, and from June 2019 to June 2021, we moved from 4% to 25% face-to-face contactless penetration in our region – all of us at Visa feel great about this accomplishment.”
Across the Latin America and Caribbean region, consumers and businesses alike have embraced contactless payments because of their speed and convenience. But convenience is not the only factor for the popularity; contactless cards are also secure and provide strong protection against fraud. Using the same secure technology as EMV® Chip, contactless cards are extremely effective in preventing counterfeit fraud by using a one-time use code that prevents compromised data from being re-used for fraud. In fact, contactless cards experience among the lowest fraud rates of any type of payment—significantly lower than magnetic stripe cards and comparable to conventional chip cards.
As the world experienced an unprecedented shift toward digital commerce over the last year, tokenization is becoming one of the most effective ways to avoid fraud and allow for more secure and easy digital payment experiences. This invisible technology replaces sensitive card account details with a digital identifier, or “tokens” that are more protected against fraudsters. So, whether a consumer is paying with a contactless card, digital wallet or wearable, Visa’s security layers are protecting the underlying transaction every step of the way.
Visa will continue to work closely with bank, merchant, government and fintech partners in the region to build on this momentum and continue to drive adoption of contactless payments in the region, especially in new and niche sectors like urban mobility for instance. As a company Visa remains committed to its core mission to connect the world to enable individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive.
