Churches, rings - but no wedding
At last weeks Money20/20 Europe in Copenhagen, Jack Dorsey, CEO and Founder of Square opened the conference by discussing the growth in innovation behind creating new seamless payment methods, stating that “you don’t have to be first, you just have to be the best.” When speaking about his payment start-up Square, Dorsey focused on how digital banking will continue to transform the way a consumer manages finances, commenting: “I can’t wait for a time when plastic doesn’t exist.”
Not everyone is of the same opinion. Especially the Church of England.
We all know that the rise of contactless has meant that physical cash payments have reduced as consumers increasingly ‘tap and go’ and that more businesses are now seeing card payments as critical to operations, offering consumers greater convenience and choice in how they pay. Well, now contactless card readers will be passed around alongside traditional collection baskets during a trial involving dozens of churches this summer. From August, around forty churches are expected to have hand-held terminals to process donations made using contactless cards in response to concerns that fewer people now carry coins and notes.
John Preston, national stewardship officer quote at the Church of England, told the Financial Times: "We're aware that younger generations - and there are many people now who don't carry cash - want to give in different ways. Enabling them to give in a way that suits them is something we'd like to try." Churches involved in the August pilot scheme have not yet been selected. It is anticipated there will be a mixture of younger and older congregations.
If successful, the system will be offered to every diocese next year. The scheme will run over the Harvest Festival and Christmas periods, two events which attract large congregations and will allow the new method to be tested on bigger groups as well as the regular Sunday attendance. The pilot will test different methods of using the card readers, including passing it around alongside a traditional collection plate and leaving it at the back of a church for members to give as they leave.
Church leaders are particularly hoping to use the card readers to take donations from attendees at events such as weddings and christenings, who do not regularly come to church so do not carry cash for donations.
It seems perfectly reasonable to me. We constantly report on charities who look towards contactless donations. Several large charities said they planned to roll out the use of contactless donation boxes after a successful trial found that people tended to give three times as much when using cards as opposed to cash. We’ve even reported on how contactless donation points have been set up in Bristol, where members of the public can donate £2 by a tap of their debit card to help fund night shelters for homeless people in the UK city. So this, really, shouldn’t come as that much of a shock to anyone.
And should anyone think that experimenting with new payment form factors is just for those who need to catch up, I recently heard that Kerv have done a deal with Amsterdam-based bank ABN Amro as the bank creates a pilot whereby they are giving out NFC-enabled rings to a select group of customers. ABN Amro plans on rolling out more of these rings in the latter half of 2017. Through this ring, customers can make payments directly from their bank accounts. Once the ring is within range of the contactless payment station, and is paired with it, funds are dispersed for the retail transaction.
A spokesperson for ABN Amro commented on the new Kerv ring offering. “We are testing the Kerv ring at the moment and we are also testing a watch,” he said. “It will be possible for other wearable suppliers to get their NFC chip certified according to the right security standards, monitored by Mastercard, to connect it to the payment account.”
You see what I did there?, Churches, contactless, weddings, rings…
Oh come on, it IS ’silly season’ after all.
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
