Contactless payment is gaining popularity in our country as well. Banks claim it is safe.

23. junij 2015 ob 10.23 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO

Contactless payment has been used in Europe for almost five years. Slowly it is being introduced in our country as well. Foto: Reuters

At the moment only three Slovenian banks allow payment by contactless cards without authorisation. But soon three more banks will start offering such services.

Contactless card payment is presently offered by NLB, NKBM and Deželna banka Slovenije (DBS). NLB explained to us that payment by new card is now possible at more than 5,000 terminals all over the country. Last November the new technology was offered first to the MasterCard cards owners, and next to the owners of certain types of Maestro cards (Student, Classic, Gold and Platinum Maestro card).

NKBM this February offered payment through NFC technology to their clients using Visa and MasterCard. DBS is for now offering the new card only for MasterCard owners.

The main characteristic of such cards, which some people consider an advantage, while others think it is a shortcoming, is that for payments up to 15 euros the entry of the safety PIN code at the terminal is not required – it is enough to hold the card close to the terminal to allow the exchange of data, which completes the transaction without the need for an authorisation.

Abundant safety measures
Immediately the doubts occur regarding safety, and the possibility of misuse of cards, so we inquired about the safety measures. NLB explained that there are a number of reasons why the new technology does not increase the risk for their clients. In order to prevent the damage, NLB offers to its clients the possibility of getting information on every single transaction by SMS messages; it is a payable service. The bank however constantly monitors use of cards, and discerns uncharacteristic patterns of use, and informs the client when such are noticed.
Not much choice is left…
Even if you are wary of new technologies, not much choice is left. Only NLB still gives the clients the option to choose an ordinary payment card, if they dislike the contactless one. NKBM gives that option only for debet Visa cards, and normal Visa cards, while the DBS clients have no possibility to decline a contactless card.

"We are developing a system which will allow to the user of the card to define the highest amount for contactless operation, and decide whether he wants to use the contactless feature," DBS explained.

The new technology is presently available in three banks only, but three more banks have already announced its introduction during the current year– PBS, Delavska hranilnica (DH) and SKB. SKB explained that they will start introducing them in the second half of the year, starting with Visa and MasterCard cards. DH will allow their clients to choose the technology. The other banks informed us that they are not offering contactless cards.