German savings banks launch contactless card acceptance on standard NFC phones

Merchants in Germany can now accept PIN-free contactless payments on their Android NFC smartphone without needing extra acceptance technology using a software point of sale (sPOS) solution launched by the Sparkasse group of savings banks.

Sparkasse POS is the first acceptance app on the German market that also makes possible payments with the Girocard, the most successful and popular payment method in this country, says S-Payment, the banking group’s payments development centre.

Customers can also use the S-POS app to make contactless payments using the Maestro, Mastercard, Vpay and Visa card systems.