This July Tatra banka in Slovakia launched a mobile POS for self-employed and small entrepreneurs. This innovation turns a smartphone into a payment terminal and allows to receive contactless payments from customers.
The popularity of non-cash payments has been growing for a long time and the pandemic has only accelerated this trend. Fears of possible infection with the new virus have forced even the biggest fans of cash to apply for a payment card. The habit of paying contactless for goods and services did not disappear even after the lockdown. On the contrary, credit cardholders are reaching for their credit cards more and more often.
In the first 6 months of this year alone, Tatra banka record a year-on-year increase in the number of transactions at payment terminals by 13%. In terms of the volume of transactions, this is an increase of 11%. If we compare June of this year with last June an increase in the number of transactions at payment terminals by 30% and an increase in volume by 25% can be seen. For some customers, the absence of a payment terminal is such a significant barrier that they would rather choose a different type of operation than should look for the nearest ATM.
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The new Tatra banka POS application was created in cooperation with the card companies Visa and Mastercard and works on all smartphones with the Android 8.0 and higher operating system and with an NFC.
It is targeted for all self-employed and small entrepreneurs to which customers currently pay for services in cash. It is an ideal solution for taxi drivers, couriers, craftsmen, but also, for example, doctors or sellers in the market. The advantages are as following: an application and a data connection are enough for payment, customers can pay with credit cards, mobile phones, and watches, the entrepreneur has access to the transaction history directly on their mobile and does not have to pay a monthly fee for renting a POS terminal.
The customer pays only by simply attaching his contactless card to the back of the mobile phone in which you have the Tatra banka POS application installed. If a PIN code is required for payment, the application will display a special screen with a secure variable keyboard, which prevents the subsequent reading of the code from the fingerprints on the screen.
After a successful transaction, it can be chosen whether the payment confirmation is displayed on the screen in the form of text, QR code, or sent to the customer by e-mail. The entrepreneur can review each payment in real-time in the app as well as can cancel it if necessary. If the entrepreneur has an account with Tatra banka, the money from the payment will be credited the next working day.
Source: Bank’s press release from July 23, 2021
