Safe and convenient: the rise of mobile wallet payments in Hungary

According to Mastercard, this fear is unfounded, as mobile wallet payments are based on advanced technology that provides the highest level of protection. Apple Pay and Google Pay, for example, use tokenization: during the transaction, the real card data is replaced by a unique code, i.e. a token, so that the user’s sensitive data never reaches the seller. László Szetnics, Mastercard’s regional business development director, pointed out that the tokenization procedure is not only safe, but also extremely efficient, since the token can only be used by the given device, so unauthorized persons cannot start transactions with it.

Paying with a mobile wallet is especially useful in situations where having a wallet at hand is not an option, for example when playing sports, festivals or traveling. In Hungary, 95% of card terminals support contactless payment, which makes mobile payment available almost everywhere. Although more and more people are choosing this payment method, many people still prefer to stick to physical bank cards, especially among older generations who consider a traditional card more secure. 18-29 year olds, on the other hand, increasingly prefer mobile wallets and find them just as convenient as paying by bank card.

According to Mastercard data, Hungary is at the forefront of mobile phone payments, as Apple Pay and Google Pay are available at almost all issuers, and Garmin Pay and Xiaomi Pay are also being used in more and more places. Smart devices do not require an Internet connection for the transaction, as the NFC (Near Field Communication) technology enables immediate connection with the terminal. Transactions handled by mobile devices are carving out an ever-larger slice of the payment market, so according to Mastercard’s estimate, every third card transaction in Hungary is now done with a mobile wallet.