In lieu of the coronavirus crisis, Mastercard, Visa, American Express and PostFinance have decided to raise the limit for contactless payments without PIN authentication from 40 francs to 80 francs per transaction. The change is set to take place in the middle of April, 2020.
In many European countries, Mastercard already announced a lifting of its contactless limit from 25 to 50 euros per transaction in late March. Visa already raised its limit to 50 euros in 2017. Now authentication-free contactless payment limits are being raised in Switzerland as well.
Advantages of higher PIN-free contactless transaction limits
Authenticating transactions with a PIN will only be required for payments above 80 francs. The advantage is that purchases between 40 and 80 francs can now be made quicker and easier than before. Because physical contact with a POS terminal is not required, there are possible hygienic advantages as well.
Disadvantages of higher contactless transaction limits
The higher PIN-free limit poses a somewhat higher security risk because if your card is stolen (or misappropriated by a child or acquaintance), payments of up to 80 francs can be made without authentication. That is twice as much per transaction as was previously possible.
How long is the new contactless limit valid?
The higher 80-franc limit is initially being introduced as a temporary measure. It is fair to say that Swiss card issuers will use the coming months as a test phase and then decide whether or not to maintain the new limit.
It is also possible that card issuers will keep high limits but introduce other security measures – such as limiting the number of PIN-free transactions which can be made within a given timeframe.
Alternative: Mobile payments
It is already possible to make large contactless transactions without entering a PIN using an NFC-enabled phone or smart watch and a mobile wallet. For example, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Twint and other mobile wallets can be used to make payments without physical contact. With Apple Pay, for example, you authenticate transactions with fingerprint authentication on your iPhone itself, rather than having to enter your PIN on the POS terminal.
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