Celent analyst Zilvinas Bareisis agreed. “For transactions over £100, few people will complain if they are asked to enter a PIN code,” he said. “I think the move to allow a higher limit is sensible.”
He said acceptance of contactless payments had increased rapidly. “A £100 threshold seemed unthinkable when contactless payments were introduced, but the payments industry and the way it manages risk has evolved since then and the contactless limits have been rising accordingly,” added Bareisis.
He said that while, in theory, there was no limit to how high it could go, with some countries not setting limits, the challenge was that while it is possible to verify that the card is authentic, without cardholder verification it’s not possible to know if the card is in the right hands. “The higher the limit, the more attractive the card is to thieves and criminals.”
Biometrics could be the answer
Bareisis said it would be interesting to see how consumers react to the new limits. “If they raise concerns about increased risks, banks might be more interested in investigating biometric cards.”