New Zealand Celsias

MasterCard has announced the results of the latest Mobile Payments Readiness Index. New Zealand ranked 17th out of 34 countries surveyed. According to the results there is a strong willingness amongst Kiwis to adopt mobile payment methods, but familiarity with mobile payments is low suggesting that more can be done to educate consumers.

• New Zealand earned an overall score of 32.7, just below the index average of 33.2 on a scale of zero to 100
• The most advanced market in the Index, Singapore, attained a score of 45.6, with Canada, the United States, Kenya and South Korea the next most prepared markets
• The challenge for NZ is to replicate the Australian experience where there are already 75,000 contactless terminals in market
• What’s remaining here is the roll out of the NFC infrastructure – which we are likely to see in Q1 2013.

Albert Naffah, MasterCard New Zealand Country Manager believes there is a big opportunity for the industry to get behind consumer education and communicate the richness that mobile payments offer, along with benefits like speed and security – as we continue to progress to a world beyond cash. Industry partnerships will greatly accelerate progress and the recent TSM NZ Joint Venture announcement is a good example of the fast moving mobile payments environment.