FDBusiness.com

The advertising slogan ‘Every Little Helps’ is used by one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains and seems to have greater relevance than ever as we collectively fight the battle against the Covid-19 global pandemic.

With such a highly contagious virus, the more we can all do to limit its spread is welcome. In retail, one area now being addressed is that of the present contactless transaction limit. In the last few days, many countries including Ireland, Malta, Greece, Turkey and Poland have increased their local payment limits to allow more hygienic, lower risk transactions removing the need to enter a PIN number via the PIN pad – alleviating the risk of contamination to the customer.

Currently, the UK contactless limit continues to be £30 per transaction, but an increase to £45 will be available from April 1^st. It remains to be seen how long this takes to implement given the massive strain that the retail industry is under, but as the British Retail Consortium recognises, “We are in extraordinary times”.

It’s good to see Visa Europe’s Chief Executive Officer,  Charlotte Hogg, support these efforts. Of course, transaction security and the physical security of the payment terminals themselves are paramount for both the consumer and the financial institutions. In fact, contactless payments at the point of sale experience some of the lowest fraud rates of any payments, according to Hogg.

Electronic wallets, of course allow for contactless payments with a higher limit, and in theory Apple Pay has no ceiling, although some retailers place their own in-store limit.

Ergonomic Solutions support this initiative. Mounting a payment terminal provides greater accessibility for all with less reason to handle the terminal or PIN pad compared with one just placed on a counter top. Whatever type of payment terminal you use, Ergonomic Solutions has trusted, proven and secure card reader stands and mounting solutions  for all static and mobile payment applications. Ensuring everyone does their bit to reduce the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic is the responsibility of us all. Simple and small steps such as raising the contactless limit would help us to be more hygienic and lessen the risk of spreading the virus in retail, an issue that should not be ignored.