Barcelona will become the first European city with the contactless payment system installed

Barcelona (ACN).- Barcelona was named the Mobile World Capital last summer, as it will host the most important annual meeting of the entire mobile phone industry, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) until 2018. Coinciding with this year’s MWC, for the first time in a large European city, clients of Barcelona shops, restaurants or even ATMs will be able to withdraw money or make purchases smaller than €20 almost instantly and with no need to carry any money with the new “contactless payment” method. The system works just like a regular credit card, but is easier and there’s no need for signatures or codes. The client has to briefly pass a special credit card in front of a sensor and the payment is made. For payments higher than €20, a PIN code will be requested. The system will be implemented in Barcelona by the Catalan financial entity CaixaBank, the private bank owned by La Caixa, and VISA Europe. In the next two months, CaixaBank will issue one million contactless cards, will adapt 500 ATMs, as the system also enables cash withdrawal, and will distribute 15,000 new dataphones in shops, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. It will also be available for public transportation and taxis. Currently there are already 3,000 shops in Barcelona that accept this payment system. Antoni Massanell, CaixaBank’s Director General, said that the new payment method would be “quicker and simpler”. Barcelona will be the first large city in Europe, ahead of London, which foresees to have it ready this summer for the Olympics.

After having evaluated the pilot tests in the Balearic Islands and in the Catalan coastal town of Sitges, located less than 40 kilometres south of Barcelona, the system arrives in Barcelona. This technology is particularly useful for “micropayments”, payments below €20. According to VISA, these operations represent around €80 billion each year throughout Spain.

At the moment, only one neighbourhood in Barcelona already has all its CaixaBank adapted to the new system, Sants. In the next two months, one million contactless cards will have been issued and 500 ATMs replaced by others having the new system –which will be spherical. To encourage shopkeepers to change their dataphone, CaixaBank will offer them “specific conditions”, based on an inferior bank commission. The shops with the new payment system will have a specific sticker in their entrances. It will be formed by four stripes forming a wave. Taxis will also start accepting this payment method in the coming months.

Coinciding with the Mobile World Congress

The Mobile World Congress, at the end of February, will be the moment the new technology will start being fully operative. Barcelona councillor for Trade, Consumption and Market, Raimond Blasi, believes that contactless payments will “reduce the client’s waiting time, the cash flow and errors in its manipulation”. Blasi stated that in a few months, the contactless payment is expected to be use in museums, municipal sports facilities and public transportation.

Barcelona has been chosen not only for the MWC but also because 24.4% of all Spain’s sales paid by credit card are made in the Catalan capital, according to Jordi Nicolau, CaixaBank’s Deputy Territorial Director for Barcelona. Spain’s largest retail shops are starting to adapt to the new technology, according to Luís Garcia Cristóbal, VISA General Director for Spain and Portugal. However, he declined to say which ones, as “they will communicate it immediately”.