Spot Money app adds Tap-to-pay

Spot Money has launched its mobile tap-to-pay functionality, which will allow its customers to use their mobile devices to make contactless payments at point-of-sale (POS) payment terminals.

Spot Money, which launched in late January this year, combines a range of payment features, digital banking functionalities, and a marketplace for various financial services like insurance and loans in one app.

Spot Money’s new tap-to-pay feature enables consumers with NFC-enabled (near-field communication) Android devices to use the Spot app to make contactless payments. Instead of having to take one’s card out and tapping it on the POS, you can open the Spot app, tap on tap-to-pay and hold the device near the card machine. The app uses Mastercard technology to facilitate payments.

“Spot Android users now have the convenience of using the app as an alternative to their Spot Money Card,” says Spot Money CEO, Andre Hugo. “So if you forget your wallet at home, you can just use your phone. This makes things easier and safer for our customers.”

Hugo historically said contactless payments were the future of payments even before Covid-19 struck. The pandemic has ‘turbo-charged’ the trend, which has forced more businesses and people to go digital and cashless overnight.

“E-commerce, home delivery and peer-to-peer payments went through the roof; digital payments became the de facto standard. And it’s not just for the tech-savvy or millennials, either: this trend is for everyone,” Hugo says.

A Mastercard consumer sentiment study conducted in the early stages of lockdown found that 75% of participants were using contactless payments as safety and hygiene precautions, and 64% said they needed to reduce or stop using cash altogether. Eight out of 10 consumers said they would continue using contactless once the pandemic is over.

“Tap-to-pay isn’t just physically safer: it’s also more secure,” says Hugo. “During transactions, your device never leaves your hand, and the nature of the encryption means every purchase has a unique set of data, which is protected at all times.”

Spot Money is available on the Apple App Store and Google’s Play Store.