CBZ Bank launches contactless payment solution with a twist

With the second wave of the pandemic weighing heavy on the country, there is a greater need for payments solutions that complement public health measures. I am sure you are aware of a number of solutions already on the market, for example, Stanbic’s QR Code payments, Tap and Go cards and POS machines. These solutions offer a barrier between you and whoever you are going to interact with at transaction points. Well, in line with all of this CBZ Bank has joined in the contactless payment game but with a little bit of a twist.

CBZ Tap and Go VISA cards

CBZ Bank recently launched a VISA card which comes with a contactless or NFC payments feature. This card allows CBZ customers to pay at Tap and Go enabled POS machines by simply bringing their card in range of said machine.

To add on to this CBZ has upgraded all of it’s POS machines so they can accept contactless payments.

Ok… So where’s the twist?

At this point, most of you are wondering what sort of convenience CBZ could have added to contactless payments. Well, the folks over at CBZ recognised that even though there is a lockdown we still have to do our shopping. In most cases, we are buying relatively low sum supplies for our homes (bread, vegetables etc.).

These small items usually have us going to the store a few times a week to resupply. So… with CBZ’s new contactless system any purchase up to ZWL$600.00 will not require you to enter your PIN. You can simply tap your card on a contactless payment-enabled POS machine and the transaction will be processed.

CBZ has added this measure in order to limit the contact it’s customers have when they are out buying these regularly purchased items. For sums over the ZWL$600.00 threshold, you will, however, have to enter your PIN.

How does the card allow a ZWL$600 transaction with no PIN?

This is something that we touched on when we reported on the First Capital customer who reached out to us saying that they swiped at City Parking and the transaction went through without needing them to enter their PIN.

In that article we went over CVM (Customer Verification Methods) and one of them was “No CVM Required”. This is a pretty common thing in some countries when cardholders want to buy something that is relatively cheap.

The bank governs what that low value is and this is how we think CBZ is making this happen.

Is this safe?

Well, for the most part, it is as long as you have your card in your possession. The only concern here would be if someone knows how the card works and steals it.

If this happens you will know because CBZ sends it’s customers SMSes after each transaction. So in the unfortunate event that someone takes your card, you will know and can contact CBZ’s 24 hr customer support centre to have the card blocked.