Now holders of MasterCard cards issued by PrivatBank are able to use their smartphones for contactless payments in a convenient and reliable way.

14 Mar 2017 PrivatBank and MasterCard held a press conference in Kyiv, where they presented an NFC wallet based on the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) platform in Ukraine. This service allows to make payments with a smartphone in POS terminals which support MasterCard technology.

“A contactless wallet is a wonderful opportunity for our more than 5 million customers who already use electronic banking on their smartphones – and for those who are planning to take advantage of digital services when making purchases. This allows to forego carrying both physical cash and cards, –Oleksandr Shlapak, Chairman of PrivatBank`s Board told the press conference. Thanks to the cooperation between the Bank and MasterCard today, things that five years ago were considered science fiction are now part of Ukrainians’ everyday lives. The Bank’s development strategy is to build its own technologies in order to support the development of the state. Our Privat24 mobile banking is already by far the market leader and will soon become a basis for development of national and regional digital services”.

Contactless wallet is available for smartphones with an NFC chip and Android 4.4 KitKat and above operating system. To start using the service, you only need to install and activate the NFC payment application Privat24 and bring an unlocked phone close to a POS terminal.

“Today we are witnessing increased interest of Ukrainians in the trend of “smart” things like payment instruments. According to our research, Ukrainians would rather leave their wallet at home and just go with a smartphone, which they spend at least four hours a day with anyway. Contactless payments are revolutionising the payment market in the country. And today, they are entering a new stage of development, when the smartphone becomes a universal tool of communication and implementation of convenient and secure contactless payments,” – said Vera Platonova, CEO of MasterCard in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and countries of Central Asia.”

The solution works on the global Tokenization MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) platform, which turns any device with an Internet connection into a secure payment tool. The platform was introduced in 2013. Today, among the operators of digital wallets working with MDES are such giants as Apple, Samsung and Google. When digitising a payment card, a unique token is created, the use of which provides the maximum level of protection for a payment transaction.

At the moment, the network of contactless payments in Ukraine is rapidly expanding. More than half of POS-terminals in retail outlets accept NFC payments. Using this service, you can pay at gas stations, parking meters, vending machines, and pay fares in Kyiv public transport. Thus, residents and guests of the capital more than seven million times paid using contactless in the metro since the launch of the technology two years ago.