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More than 500,000 contactless payment apps downloaded

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More and more people are paying at points of sale with their smartphones. A dedicated payment app on a modern Android phone allows users to pay contactlessly in the same way as with a debit card. Seven banks currently offer this service. The Dutch Payments Association expects the number of users to continue rising, because the service makes payments more convenient and more banks are offering it.

Customer holds a smartphone against a payment terminal while an employee holds the card reader during a contactless mobile payment.

The Beach in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands’ largest indoor sports and events centre, has accepted debit card payments since it opened in 1996. Contactless payments have been possible since 2016. In addition to sports on sand, The Beach offers extensive hospitality facilities. “It is important to us that guests can pay quickly and easily. Contactless payments are part of that,” says Arthur Wingelaar, General Manager of The Beach Aalsmeer.

Arthur Wingelaar holds a tray while Freia Goederaad makes a contactless mobile payment at The Beach in Aalsmeer.
Contactless mobile payment at The Beach. Arthur Wingelaar is on the left and Freia Goederaad on the right.

Half of debit card payments are contactless

Paying with a smartphone (in Dutch) is one way to make a contactless payment. The use of contactless payments (in Dutch) continues to grow.

Last year marked the one-billionth contactless payment; the total has now already reached 2.8 billion, an increase of 165 per cent. Half of all debit card payments are contactless, twice the share recorded at the beginning of last year. More and more people in the Netherlands pay quickly and easily by briefly holding their debit card or mobile phone against the payment terminal. For amounts up to and including €25, this can usually be done without entering a PIN.

Mobile payment campaign

At the end of last year, the Dutch Payments Association and participating banks launched the ‘mobiel aftikken, altijd easy’ campaign (in Dutch) to encourage mobile payments. The campaign will continue this spring.

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