MasterCard, on February 25, 2013, announced the launch of its new digital payment system. The new system will give users the convenience of using a variety of devices, including smartphones to spend their money.
The new system is known as the MasterPass and stores consumer’s banking and personal information. A users personal information is stored in a secure cloud online, where it will be available at the moment of payment. It does not matter whether the user is in a store, or is browsing the internet. Customers will get the ‘MasterPass Connected’ digital wallets as well, which will be issued by the banks and stores.
Credit card and debit card system will also be accepted by the system. The best part is that the customers can use the service on the web, without having to enter their bank information and delivery address for every purchase. Payments can also be made with the new system by waving a smartphone equipped with Near Field Communications close to a special reader.
Ed Laughlin, the head of emerging payments at MasterCard said, “Every device is becoming a shopping device”. The new system will be formally launched by financial institutions in Australia and Canada in the month of March 2013 in the US. It will also be launched in Britain during summer, before it expands to other markets.
