Australia to be cashless, cards obsolete: MasterCard global exec

The president of technology for payments giant Mastercard has tipped that Australia will be a cashless economy within the next five to 10 years as wearable technology takes over.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review Mastercard’s president of operations and technology, Rob Reeg, said the idea of a physical card would also become obsolete in five years.

“Eight out of 10 transactions here are contactless already … I definitely think Australia will be cashless before the US,” he said.

“It’s going to become about the convenience factor, be it a ring or a phone or a bracelet [rather than a card]. Wearables will definitely come into play and that will tie into authentication as well.”

Mastercard is currently piloting what it calls “persistent authentication” in the form of the world’s first biometric wristband, Nymi, which it developed with Canadian start-up Bionym.

 

Read More: Australia to be cashless, cards obsolete: MasterCard global exec | afr.com