Contactless Credit & Debit Cards Slow to Take Off in Croatia

Since 2012 Croatia has been one of 36 European and 66 global nations which makes contactless credit and debit card payment possible, however Croatians are still very wary…

Over 36 million locations around the world accept the method of payment now, which allows customers, thanks to radio-frequency identification and an embedded chip, to just wave their card over a reader at the point of sale, but the concept is yet to gather momentum in Croatia since its launch. Cash is still king in Croatia with around 85% of transactions made in cash according to a research survey.

A MasterCard survey revealed that whilst 59% were interested in the new technology as a method of payment, they had fears that the system was not safe and prefered traditional methods.

“This method of payment is even safer, because the card never leaves the user, it just gets swiped over the reader. For purchases up to 100 kuna (13 euros), no PIN number is required,” Sanja Žigić from MasterCard Croatia told Business daily.

Last year in Europe the number of contactless credit card transactions tripled, whilst the number of places to accept the mode of payment doubled in the last 12 months. Four banks in Croatia currently offer the cards;: Erste, OTP, Raiffeisen and Podravska banka.