MasterCard Announces Five Year Plan to Change the Face of the Payments Industry in New Zealand

MasterCard today announced the launch of the ‘MasterCard Roadmap’, an unprecedented five year plan to grow and reinforce the integrity of the payments system in New Zealand.

The MasterCard Roadmap sees innovation, security and transparency at the heart of the MasterCard business and will benefit cardholders, merchants and the wider banking industry.

MasterCard’s New Zealand Country Manager Albert Naffah said the comprehensive plan will touch every point of the payment landscape with commitments to the rollout of new MasterCard products and services, further safeguards to protect payments (both online and at the point of sale) and basic requirements on providing transparency on fees across all MasterCard payment products.

Innovation

Core to the MasterCard Roadmap philosophy will be continued innovation in the payments industry. MasterCard continues to invest heavily in research and development of new payment types, most recently bringing PayPass™, MasterCard’s contactless payment feature, to mass market.

“Today, there are more than 88 million PayPass cards in wallets around the world and they can be used at more than 276,000 merchant locations” said Mr Naffah.

“We know that customers want PayPass.”

MasterCard has set a series of public milestones for the rollout of new products and services over the next two years. These include:

· October 2012: All new MasterCards will be PayPass enabled, providing consumers with a fast and convenient alternative to cash for smaller purchases; and

· All new merchants in relevant merchant categories must have at least one PayPass enabled terminal

o Taxis

o Newsagents and bookstores

o Supermarkets, convenience stores, grocers and pharmacies

o Service Stations and parking lots

o Fast food restaurants, cafes and bars

o Cinemas and theatres

· October 2012: Merchants will offer ‘Purchase with Cash Back’ to Debit MasterCard cardholders when using a PIN. As well as making a purchase, consumers can also withdraw cash on their Debit MasterCard cards

“The set of changes outlined in the Roadmap will change the face of the payments industry in New Zealand and bring a broad range of benefits across the financial sector,” said Mr Naffah.

“MasterCard’s position at the Heart of Commerce ensures that the company has a leadership role to play within the industry. The Roadmap is our commitment to merchants, cardholders and our customer banks to facilitate the acceptance of payments in a quicker, safer and more efficient way.”

Security

At the heart of the ‘MasterCard Roadmap’ is a clearly defined commitment to enhancing already robust security measures with a key focus on enabling cardholders to make more secure payments online and at the point of sale.

· 1 July 2011: All Point of Sale terminals in New Zealand must be EMV compliant

· October 2011: All new and reissued MasterCard cards issued by New Zealand banks must be EMV capable

· April 2013: All cards and payment terminals will need to be EMV capable

· April 2013: Online merchants must provide either MasterCard SecureCode* Authentication or the equivalent for transactions over $200

· At the end of 2015, all ATMs in New Zealand must be EMV enabled

“MasterCard has placed a strong and consistent emphasis on our security systems to safeguard cardholders, merchants and the banking industry.

“In the next five years we will continue to invest here, particularly with more merchants and cardholders migrating to online purchases.”

Transparency

Transparency is key to how MasterCard runs its business, and by October 2011, Acquiring banks must be able to separate the financial terms they offer for Credit and Debit card acceptance to help merchants identify the cost of acceptance for each product.

Other components of the MasterCard Roadmap include:

Security
· April 2012: MasterCard will begin a liability shift between Australia and New Zealand for ATM transactions based on who is the EMV capable party**

Innovation
· April 2014: All existing cards must be PayPass enabled and all existing merchants in the categories above must have PayPass functionality

*Additional layer of security when shopping online, MasterCard SecureCode requires additional detail to be submitted to prove the transaction is authentic
**This means that from this date the non-EMV party will be liable for any resulting fraud