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Thread: Contactless Payments in Jamaica

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by psilos View Post
    Contactless payments are quite frequent in Kingston. Both NCB's new credit cards and Scotia support it and most terminals in the field already had supported it just wasn't activated.

    I think part of the issue is that the cardholders and the merchants don't know its available and I have to keep saying to the merchant just tap. It actually pops up on the screen after they input the digits from the card but they don't notice and use what they are used to and stick it in the chip part.

    Security wise, God go with you as you literally tap and they hand you back the card. No verification of who you are or the card, literally tap and go.
    Ditto on the ubiquity part. It's quite widespread here in Montego Bay too, from the beach to the coffee shop and beyond. I've been actively campaigning to banking interests locally to promote contactless more frequently but, I think the core issue is one of cardholders being largely disconnected from the true power of the cards they hold (an intentional effort on the part of our banks IMO). It (tap) is still mostly being used by people who've had exposure to its use in larger markets but, with time, it will come to be the preferred method of payment for certain kinds of transactions.

    As to the security bit, I simply tell them I'm paying by phone... then they simply hand over the terminal for me to transact.

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by khat17 View Post
    Remember that tech and banking - while pushed by the market leaders - has to evolve based on local demographics.

    Disclaimer is I've never read this thread before. After skimming through each page I'd like to point out that all terminals in the field (barring MUCH older models) are capable of "tap and go" usage. Every terminal in use locally is Veriphone. Each bank deploys and implements differently.

    When you factor in the "mark of the beast" which is a widespread concept in Jamaica - people will be less likely to jump ship. When you factor in the education and intelligence level then you realize that cash will never go away for us.

    The convenience of digital currency is lovely, but having physical cash for other services (strip clubs for example) is not going out of style yet. The move by most banks to remove $100 notes from their ATMs may have made it more difficult though.

    I'd like to see things move to a digital platform. I'm just not sure Jamaica or the world is ready for a fully digitized currency move. Worse with the body augmentation videos that are online? More "mark of the beast" issues.

    I totally get the view of luddites being bound by fantastical doctrine. However, I just don't think that the people who are driving the use of credit and debit card usage are of that group. By no means will we completely banish the idea of cash. However, there are a number of things coming down the pike that will incentivize people to use digital wallets. One large bank (Big S) seems to be in line to usher in a new local P2P payments service, built by Mastercard (and their MDES service). That service serves as the backbone of their larger digital ambitions; Scotia's likely to hop on board as a participating issuer on Apple Pay when it launches this year in Mexico. The people who'll derive benefit the most from these services will use it. Rogers' diffusion theory tells us exactly how the cookie will crumble after.

  3. #33
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    For the security bit I actually meant on behalf of the merchant and somewhat you.

    With the magnetic swipe, its easy to clone and the merchant should at least look to see if its a real card, see if there is a signature at the back matching what you signed. They could verify that you are the cardholder by looking at your ID but that is not what is in the cardholder agreement as its a form of invasion of privacy and the banks actually frown upon it.

    For the cards with a chip, they would need for you to lose or they steal your wallet/card but they would need to know the PIN on the card to use. If you try to use the magnetic strip on one of those cards the machine tells you to use the chip. The merchant would essentially verify that you are the cardholder or somewhat authorized by knowing the PIN to the card.

    For the tap and go, thats just it, Tap and leave, the merchant does not even check if you are the cardholder at all as it could be anyone's card. At least with a phone payment the phone verifies that its you via FaceID or fingerprint.

    These NFC credit cards are very loose and I am sure we are bound to see some fraud very soon.

  4. #34
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    What are your thoughts on GNU Taler? https://taler.net/en/

    "Taler does not require any Blockchain technology, and is also not based on proof-of-work or any other distributed consensus mechanism. Instead, Taler is based on blind signatures..." (https://taler.net/en/faq.html)

  5. #35
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    Everything looks good except for the how the many makes it to your wallet as the customer in order to make a process. It appears to be a Paypal without Paypal storing your banking details or registration information.

    Pros:
    GNU backed
    OSS
    No registration/anonymous

    Cons:
    Will likely be adopted by another third party who will build upon it and charge a support fee

    I hope the project succeeds however I know that the Banking and Card Payment industry regulate transactions and this will not go anywhere without their blessing.

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