ANZ NZ raises limit for contactless purchases

ANZ Bank New Zealand (ANZ NZ) has temporarily lifted the contactless purchase limit from $80 to $200 in line with an industry move.

On Thursday, Payments New Zealand announced the new temporary $200 limit would be introduced at an increasing number of retailers over the coming days.

ANZ NZ Managing Director Retail and Business Banking Ben Kelleher said the bank had received feedback from customers asking for a temporary increase.

“We’ve had a lot of contact from customers asking us to lift the limit from the current $80 so they don’t have to physically touch the payment terminal keypad to help protect the wider community’s health and wellbeing during this time,” Mr Kelleher said.

“It’s encouraging seeing the industry move quickly for a change requiring significant collaboration to meet customer demand.”

The New Zealand payments industry determined the $80 limit when contactless payments were first introduced locally a few years ago. The temporary increase aims to help reduce the need for customers to touch PIN pads when making in-store purchases during the COVID-19 health crisis.

“Customers won’t have to do anything differently. They’ll be able to tap their card on a contactless payment terminal and it won’t require a PIN if it’s $200 or less. It’s particularly good for supermarket purchases which tend to see credit and debit card usage of around this value.

“We continue to encourage all those with Apple or Android devices that do Near Field Communication to sign-up for ApplePay or Google Pay as in many cases no PIN is required due to biometric authentication on the digital wallets.”

While contactless is a secure form of payment Mr Kelleher says it’s important for cardholders to remember to keep their cards and PINs safe. 

ANZ NZ will also waive the ANZ FastPay card reader support fee for the month of April for all ANZ FastPay merchants.

The bank has already waived the minimum monthly merchant service fees for all businesses during the lockdown period and is waiving the fee for contactless debit transactions for around 14,000 eligible small business customers until the end of June.