MasterCard Will Debut MasterPass in Australia Ahead of UK, US

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MasterCard’s new digital wallet, MasterPass, will make its worldwide debut in Australia and Canada next month – ahead of the US and UK launches scheduled for later in the year.

The new service is an upgrade from the PayPass Wallet, which was released last May and allowed customers to utilise tap-and-go, NFC-enabled payments at more than 441,000 locations worldwide.

Besides storing other credit, debit and prepaid cards for online transactions, customers may use the MasterPass at 5,900 merchants around the world and pay using mobile contactless payments or QR codes.

“With a simple click, tap or touch – online, in-store or anywhere – using any payment card or enabled device, MasterPass gives Australians access to a range of cards in their digital wallet with one button,” MasterCard said in a company statement obtained by Computerworld Australia.

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In addition to partnerships with major Australian banks such as Westpac, ME Bank, Commonwealth Bank and NAB, the MasterPass is also supported by retailers including JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Roses Only and Amalgamated Holdings Limited.

The service aims to help banks and retailers improve their customers’ shopping experience and quicken the checkout process.

“The typical experience is you swipe a card and check out. But why can’t you buy from the rack from your phone? If you like it and have to leave, why can’t you buy it from your phone and have the store ship it to your home?” asks MasterCard senior vice president Ed Olebe in TechCrunch.

 “It’s these sorts of “omnichannel” sales experiences that MasterCard created MasterPass to be a part of, and the company has already locked up support from players like Verifone, which today announced that MasterPass support would be baked into its mobile point of sale apps.”

Last October, market research firm ABI Research predicted that NFC mobile payments will exceed US$100 billion globally in 2016.