Andrew Uaboi, the Country Manager at Visa has said that contactless payment is the next frontier in the Nigerian Fintech and payment ecosystem.
The Country Manager disclosed this while speaking on the topic, ‘Contactless as the future of payment in Africa’ at the Future of Payment and Fraud Conference 2022 hosted by BusinessDay.
Contactless payment is a means of payment that does not require cash or even swiping a card. It requires tapping or holding the contactless card or smartphone near a compatible card reader while checking out.
According to Uaobi, the innovation will enable the growth of small businesses and also assist individual businesses thrive.
He disclosed that Nigerians are expected to tap the full potential of the coming innovation, which will bring more merchants into the financial ecosystem.
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“There has been a significant increase in contactless payment since the COVID-19 era. In the U.S for example, one in six people testified that they carried out their first contactless payment during the COVID last year . We’ve also seen a 40 percent year on year growth of contactless payment, and all of this payment is also enabling small businesses. It enables the growth of individual businesses as well as economies,” Andrew said.
He urged Nigerians to leverage the opportunity that is coming in changing their business and the economy at large.
Andrew explained that Visa is working with the Nigerian government, Central bank and other partners to build a framework for which contactless will come in and thrive in Nigeria.
Similarly, the country manager assured a strong security on the new innovation which will curb fraud and other financial related misconduct.
“I can assure you that it’s very secured. It’s as secure as using your regular cards to pay on the POS machine. It even comes with some additional security features, which enables us to be able to ensure that transactions are not done in a fraudulent manner,” he said.
He stated that contactless payment is aimed at bringing more people in particular dimensions into the financial payment ecosystem, adding that it will create jobs, bring new players in the market, and expand the players within the financial mental ecosystem,just like the e-commerce sector.
“I would also like to point out that as much as contactless is growing, what it is also doing is bringing more people into the financial payments ecosystem, because we’re seeing new form factors of contactless payment beyond just using your tapping card on a device to pay,” the payment technology expert said.
