Visa Europe has “just reached” 1.1 billion contactless transactions on the Continent in the past 12 months, the payments network disclosed today.
Visa Europe made the revelation as it announced that it was chosen to provide contactless payments to Carrefour in Belgium. Carrefour is one of the major supermarket chains in Europe with nearly 11,000 stores in 33 countries.
Visa Europe called the 1.1 billion contactless transactions a “milestone,” adding that it was continuing its “rollout of contactless payments in retail distribution.” Presumably, the Carrefour deal will advance Visa Europe’s contactless volume.
According to the Smart Payment Association, about 40% of all cards globally were contactless-enabled last year, and the U.S. is still “at the beginning” of its migration to contactless cards with EMV adoption ramping up.
Visa brands its contactless service as Visa payWave. Visa introduced payWave in 2007.
Worldline is providing Carrefour with the POS hardware.
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