MasterCard launches mini PayPass cards in Spain

Initial trials will take place in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and 400 customers and 15 merchants, mainly restaurants and pharmacies, will participate.

 MasterCard partners with Spanish
financial institutions La Caja Insular de Ahorros de Canarias and
Euro 6000 to launch a miniature version of its contactless PayPass
card. During a second phase, the cards will be rolled out to nearly
5000 customers. The PayPass technology allows customers to pay for
purchases of less than EUR 40 by tapping the mini plastic card
against a reader which is especially equipped for this purpose.

MasterCard has added its PayPass
technology to wrist watches, as a result of a partnership with
Turkey's Garanti Bank and Taiwan's Chinatrust Bank. In October 2007,
Visa launched the Micro Tag chip-based keyring attachment, featuring
the payWave contactless technology.