To support the gradual takeover of businesses, the ceiling for contactless payment will rise to 50 euros from the 11th May 2020.
Until now, the limit for contactless payment has been 30 euros. But from the 11th May 2020, the day of possible deconfinement in France, it will increase to 50 euros.
The Groupement des Cartes Bancaires confirms the new measure:
“All players in digital payments (banks, merchants, payment systems) are starting to work today to secure the deployment of this measure so that this operational implementation can start on the 11th May 2020. “
This increase in the ceiling had been mentioned at the beginning of April, while its use was increasing, unlike payment in cash, the Covid-19 health crisis requires.
Support the recovery of businesses
Today, 60% of card payments concern payments of less than 30 euros. With this new ceiling, “more than 70% could ultimately be achieved in contactless mode”, specifies the group. What is more, this system will help professionals in the gradual reopening of businesses.
This measure involves the reprogramming of nearly one million contactless payment terminals and more than 70 million bank cards that are suitable for this purpose.
A long operation, therefore, which requires a “heavy and delicate IT industrialization” that cannot “ be done overnight, in haste, without risking destabilizing a system that works well, especially in the delicate context of this coronavirus”, explained last week to AFP the grouping of bank cards, recalls Le Figaro.
