Casablanca, Morocco – 9 March 2021 — Visa (NYSE: V) and Centre Monétique Interbancaire (CMI) today announced an increase in the Card Verification Method limit to MAD600 in Morocco, which will allow consumers to simply tap-to-pay using their card, mobile phone or contactless wearable device for larger purchases. Visa and CMI are working closely with local banks and industry partners in financial services to implement the increased PIN-free limit, which is a 50% increase from the current amount of MAD400.
Contactless technology provides the fastest, most convenient and highly secure way to pay for both consumers and merchants, enabling simple ‘tap’ payments. With contactless transactions having become more popular among Moroccans during the pandemic, the increase will continue to improve consumers’ shopping experience.
“When consumers tap-to-pay they love the smooth, fast and secure experience, and we know that people want to use contactless to shop now more than ever in what has become a ‘new normal’ in how consumers pay,” said Sami Romdhane, Visa’s General Manager for the Maghreb region. “Visa has always been at the forefront of driving innovation and offering consumers and merchants the best way to pay. We are looking forward to working with our local partners in implementing the increased payment limits that will facilitate the continued growth of highly secure and convenient contactless technology in Morocco.”
“Contactless payment has been very favourably welcomed by merchants and cardholders, given the significant advantages that this payment method provides in terms of convenience and security. The increase in the PIN-free limit will enable merchants and their customers to accept and make more contactless payments. Our objective is to achieve an overall rate of 40% contactless payments by the end of the year,” said Mikael Naciri, CMI’s General Manager.
In addition to convenience, contactless cards using Visa Easy Payment Service experience some of the lowest fraud rates of any type of payment, and fraud rates at point-of-sale remain at historic lows in countries where contactless payments are widely used. Contactless cards use the same dynamic EMV® Chip security as contact chip, and each transaction includes a unique one-time code, ensuring stolen information cannot be used to create counterfeit cards.