,  Press Release

Restrictions on contactless payments to be temporarily eased

PostFinance is temporarily raising the limit for contactless payments without PIN entry on its payment cards from 40 francs to 80 francs. This enables customers and sales staff at checkouts to better protect themselves against the risk of infection from the new coronavirus. PostFinance is taking this measure in consultation with all other card providers in Switzerland, who will also increase their respective limits from 40 francs to 80 francs at the same time. The new limit will be introduced nationwide by mid-April and will apply until further notice.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and the associated behavioural and hygiene recommendations issued by the authorities, the demand for contactless payment with credit and debit cards at checkouts has seen a sharp increase. At present, contactless payments of 40 francs and above require PIN verification at the terminal. In conjunction with international card organizations American Express, Mastercard and VISA as well as all card issuers and service partners in Switzerland, PostFinance has now taken the decision to temporarily increase the limit for contactless payments without PIN entry from 40 francs to 80 francs, in order to protect customers. This will enable cardholders and shopkeepers to process a greater number of payments quickly, easily, and securely without entering a PIN or using cash. This applies to all cards with the contactless feature – whether credit card, debit card (PostFinance Card, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, V PAY) or prepaid card.

The organizations and retailers concerned are currently in the process of making the necessary adjustments to the technical infrastructure. It will take a few days for the changeover to be implemented for all cards throughout Switzerland. The goal is for the temporarily increased limits to be available everywhere from mid-April 2020. 

No PIN entry for mobile payments

It is already possible to make contactless payments via mobile payment solutions without entering a PIN at the terminal. To this end, PostFinance customers can store their PostFinance Card digitally in their Android smartphone or use the TWINT payment app. With these two payment methods, PIN entry is never required at the terminal, and customers do not have to hand over their mobile device.