The top three markets in terms of mobile payment users are Turkey, Denmark and Norway
The number of Europeans regularly making mobile payments with their smart devices has reached 54% compared to 18% in 2015, according to Visa’s 2016 digital payments study.
The study, which surveyed over 36,000 online consumers in 19 European countries, revealed that 12% of surveyed people said they had never used a mobile device to make payments and had no plans to do so, down compared to 38% last year.
The report also revealed that the 10 countries with the highest proportion of mobile payments users are Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Israel, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Ireland, Finland and Belgium.
Visa’s study also showed that over half of surveyed people in Europe are using mobile banking services.
“This data is a confirmation that the future of digital payments has arrived, with consumers across the length and breadth of the U.K. and Europe embracing a variety of new ways to pay,” Kevin Jenkins, Visa’s managing director for U.K. and Ireland, said. “Visa sees smartphones and wearables as the beginning of a broader trend, with millions of new connected devices making it simple, safe and secure to integrate daily commerce transactions into almost any technology.
“In Europe, we’ve recently seen Apple Pay launched in the U.K., France and Switzerland, Samsung Pay has launched in Spain and Android Pay in the U.K.,” he said. “We’ve also seen a new era of wearable payments: smartwatches, wristbands and even clothing. It’s clear that this trend will continue to accelerate, enabling consumers to choose the connected device that fits with their lifestyle.”
MasterCard launches new payment technology app in Europe
In related news, MasterCard has launched Identity Check Mobile, a new payment technology application that uses biometrics like fingerprints or facial recognition to verify a cardholder’s identity, in order to simplify online shopping.
MasterCard is rolling out the technology across 12 markets in Europe. These markets include the U.K., Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden, following a series of successful trials in the Netherlands, the U.S., and Canada. The technology will be rolled out across the world in phases in 2017.
“This is a significant milestone in the evolution of payments. Shopping in person has been revolutionized thanks to advances like contactless cards, mobile payments and wearables, and now we are making Identity Check Mobile a reality for online shopping in Europe and, soon, the world,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security at MasterCard.
