Why do Irish banks not use contactless + PIN for over EUR 30 transactions?

Impetus

Most banks/payment processors in Europe accept contactless cards for any amount.   If it is over the floor limit (eg EUR 30) the cardholder is invited to enter a PIN after the contactless wave.  As a result the transaction happens faster.    There is no contact chip reading delay/sync.  And it is just as secure as the now dated contact chip/EMV.

Even Irish debit cards work for large amounts on the continent using contactless + PIN. But not in Irish shops - most of whom seem to have card payment devices designed in the dark ages.

It also puts mobile phone payments in the dark ages, and contactless is far easier to carry and faster etc.

I have an AmEx contactless (with contact chip also) card, and it is my card of choice.    The authorizations fly through the system in a nano-second.    Far faster than dozy Visa and MC.   And my max exposure for fraud is EUR 50, if I fail to report loss/theft.    When one calls AmEx they answer the phone within a second or two with no waiting.  And I get points for every EUR spent.   Online, with AmEx one can see charges/authorizations on your account in real-time.  And they do multi-factor authentication on internet shopping.

And AmEx uses DDA - dynamic data authentication - ie the credentials transmitted to the card issuer by the card vary each time.   This prevents hacker authentication replay.

Irish banks and their Visa and MasterCard have a lot of work to do to catch up with the 21st century!

(And to be fair to BoI, I was in a restaurant in Barcelona last week, and the cashier said that my contactless payment using a BoI debit card was the fastest to process that he had ever seen in his job).    I didn't ask him - the guy just said it.  

Bank of Ireland: Jennifer

Impetus wrote: »

Most banks/payment processors in Europe accept contactless cards for any amount.   If it is over the floor limit (eg EUR 30) the cardholder is invited to enter a PIN after the contactless wave.  As a result the transaction happens faster.    There is no contact chip reading delay/sync.  And it is just as secure as the now dated contact chip/EMV.

Even Irish debit cards work for large amounts on the continent using contactless + PIN. But not in Irish shops - most of whom seem to have card payment devices designed in the dark ages.

It also puts mobile phone payments in the dark ages, and contactless is far easier to carry and faster etc.

I have an AmEx contactless (with contact chip also) card, and it is my card of choice.    The authorizations fly through the system in a nano-second.    Far faster than dozy Visa and MC.   And my max exposure for fraud is EUR 50, if I fail to report loss/theft.    When one calls AmEx they answer the phone within a second or two with no waiting.  And I get points for every EUR spent.   Online, with AmEx one can see charges/authorizations on your account in real-time.  And they do multi-factor authentication on internet shopping.

And AmEx uses DDA - dynamic data authentication - ie the credentials transmitted to the card issuer by the card vary each time.   This prevents hacker authentication replay.

Irish banks and their Visa and MasterCard have a lot of work to do to catch up with the 21st century!

(And to be fair to BoI, I was in a restaurant in Barcelona last week, https://honestgreens.com and the cashier said that my contactless payment using a BoI debit card was the fastest to process that he had ever seen in his job).    I didn't ask him - the guy just said it.  Aside from bank recommendations, one has no problem recommending Honest Greens!

hi Impetus,

thanks for getting in touch with us here on Boards.

Please be assured that we appreciate all feedback we receive from our customers and will be sure to pass this onto the relevant teams.

At present for all Pin initiated transactions it is necessary for the card to be inserted to the card reader. This is as a result of the terminal used in most merchant services.

Thanks Jen