BofA Jumps on Tap-to-Pay Bandwagon as NYC’s Subway Moves Forward
BofA Jumps on Tap-to-Pay Bandwagon as NYC’s Subway Moves Forward
(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. is joining the wave of companies issuing tap-to-pay cards.
The lender will send 4 million contactless cards this month to customers in New York, Boston and San Francisco who have Visa debit or credit cards, according to Mark Monaco, enterprise payments executive at Bank of America. It plans to measure usage in those markets before deciding on a broader rollout at the beginning of next year, he said.
The bank’s strategy is to “do it in these three markets to get a sense of adoption and experience,” Monaco said in a telephone interview from New York.
Unlike some large competitors such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., which are issuing tap-to-pay cards to new customers or as cards come up for renewal, Bank of America is reissuing cards for Visa customers in the New York, Boston and San Francisco areas, which have transit systems moving toward tap-to-pay or a large portion of merchants using the technology.
Bank of America’s move comes after New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority last month unveiled the ability to use tap-to-pay cards, which eventually will be available for all subway and bus fares. And it’s not just public transportation: Visa Inc. says 80 of the top 100 U.S. retailers now accept the cards, with companies including Target Corp. and CVS Health Corp. adding the technology in recent months.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lananh Nguyen in New York at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net;Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub, Steve Dickson
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