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MasterCard Mobile Point-of-Sale Program Provides Guidelines to Expand Card Acceptance for Small and Micro-Businesses
May 23, 2012
MasterCard Supports the use of Mobile Payment Card Readers for Safe, Simple and Smart Payments
Purchase, N.Y., May 23, 2012– With the evolution and proliferation of mobile devices, there has been a surge of innovation in point of sale technology. MasterCard (NYSE:MA) today announced a global initiative called the MasterCard Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS) Program that will provide best practices to mobile point-of-sale solution providers and merchants, ensuring simple and secure transactions when consumers use their debit, credit and prepaid cards to pay merchants that use these devices.
Mobile devices are fast-becoming an integral part of people’s daily lives around the world. MasterCard has been working to transform these devices into tools of commerce that give consumers and merchants new options for how they shop, pay for goods and receive payments.
“The boom in mobile devices provides a huge opportunity for innovation across all industries – including payments,” said James Anderson, Group Head, Mobile, MasterCard Worldwide. “With nearly 6 billion mobile subscriptions around the world, there is tremendous potential to grow merchant acceptance – it’s imperative that manufacturers, vendors and merchants maintain the highest standards to enable a seamless and secure purchasing experience.”
The MasterCard MPOS Best Practices document contains guidance that solution providers and merchants should adhere to, including best practices regarding:
1. Securing MPOS Payment Applications
2. Securing Transaction Data Captured by an MPOS Card Reader Accessory
3. Securing Personal Account Numbers (PAN)
4. EMV Chip Transactions
5. Display of the MasterCard Acceptance Mark
6. Merchant Confirmation
7. Cardholder Verification Methods (CVM)
8. Receipts
“While the market for mobile phone and tablet payment acceptance is in its infancy, it has already seen explosive growth,” said Will Graylin, CEO, ROAM Data. “We’re very pleased that MasterCard is leading the efforts in providing necessary guidance to the industry for this important area that is rapidly expanding payment options for consumers and merchants.”
MasterCard estimates that by the end 2011, there were approximately 1.2 million MPOS solutions shipped to MasterCard merchants globally. Importantly, approximately 75 percent of those merchants had previously not accepted payment card transactions. With the incredible amount of innovation and growth expected in this area, MasterCard will continue to expand the MPOS Program over the coming months.
“iZettle changes the way small businesses take payments and, over the last few months, iZettle has increased the Nordic payment card acceptance market by 10%,” highlighted Jacob de Geer, Founder and CEO, iZettle. “We’re happy to see a major player like MasterCard pave the way for safe, simple and smart payments for a growing industry and for the merchants that use new solutions like ours.”
MPOS solution providers can assess their solutions against the MasterCard MPOS Best Practices and apply to be listed on MasterCard’s website. Registration for this program will open in July 2012.
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About MasterCard Worldwide
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a global payments and technology company. It operates the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Cashless Conversations Blog and subscribe for the latest news.
