Mastercard and Garmin Expand Garmin Pay Contactless Payments to Maestro European Accountholders

By AIT News Desk On Oct 31, 2018

Mastercard, Garmin International, Inc., and Fit Pay, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NXT-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTD), announced that the Garmin Pay contactless payment feature will be available for Maestro cards issued by major banks in Europe, including KBC Bank and Insurance (including CBC and KBC Brussels) in Belgium, Rabobank and ABN AMRO in Netherlands and BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas in Italy. The contactless payment feature and digital wallet, which is available on 10 of Garmin’s latest smartwatches, enables consumers to make highly secure contactless payments at near-field communication-enabled (NFC) point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

“By adding Maestro, our issuers will be able to expand this innovative solution to their entire consumer base, which will result in more connected and digitally native customers than ever,” said Paolo Battiston, EVP Digital Payments & Labs Europe, Mastercard.

Garmin Pay, which launched in November 2017, allows Garmin users to make contactless payments free from having their phone or wallet present. The payment feature includes a digital wallet, which is integrated into the Garmin Connect™ user application. Garmin Pay is now available on 10 of the company’s smartwatches, including the D2™ Delta S, D2 Delta, D2 Delta PX, fēnix 5S Plus, fēnix 5 Plus, fēnix 5X Plus, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, vívoactive 3 and vívoactive 3 Music.

“We are committed to expanding Garmin Pay support to our customers around the world, and we are excited to officially offer that service to Maestro cardholders,” said Joe Schrick, Garmin vice president of fitness. “Now, athletes and adventurers throughout Europe can leave their wallet at home when they go to the gym or for a run, making it easier than ever to just get up and go.”

Impetus Launches Industry’s First Building Block-based GenAI Labs for Rapid Development of Enterprise Solutions

Aug 29, 2024

LG AI Research Taps Google Cloud to Develop EXAONE 3.0 and ChatEXAONE AI Agent

Aug 29, 2024

21 Key Differences Of Deep Learning vs Machine Learning

Jun 24, 2024

Prev Next 1 of 253

Maestro accountholders from numerous participating issuing banks throughout Europe, including KBC in Belgium, Rabobank and ABN AMRO in Netherlands and BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas in Italy, will have the ability to add their account to Garmin Pay, enabling them to make “tap and go” payments at any point-of-sale terminal that accepts contactless payments. Additional issuers on the Maestro network will be added soon.

A February 2018 study by Mastercard, found that one quarter (24 percent) of Europeans expect to start using “tap and go” contactless payments with a smartwatch, bracelet, keyring or other wearable. Between 2018 and 2017, contactless spending on Mastercard and Maestro grew by 145 percent.

“Adding Maestro is a major step forward in expanding the global footprint of Garmin Pay, which is now available in 26 countries and through more than 200 issuers,” said Michael Orlando, COO of NXT-ID and President of Fit Pay, Inc. “Mastercard and Garmin have been tremendous partners as we have begun providing consumers worldwide with more convenient, secure and seamless ways to pay.”

Garmin Pay is powered by FitPay’s Token Requester Management Platform, which enables cardholders to securely add their payment credentials to devices that are integrated with FitPay’s token management solution. The platform uses tokenization, a payment security technology that replaces cardholders’ account information with a unique digital identifier (a “token”), to transact highly secure contactless payments.