On Thursday, Asian fintech MatchMove announced it has enabled the first contactless prepaid Mastercard in South Asia. According to MatchMove, the new card is being issued by India’s Federal Bank, is distributed under the brand name tmw by The MobileWallet Pvt. Ltd, India’s first complete payment solution, and powered by MatchMove’s proprietary Banking Wallet OS.
MatchMove reported that the prepaid card allows users in India to make contactless payments at stores or online without having to key in a PIN for any transaction below INR2,000.
“The card is ready to capitalize on the country’s enormous untapped opportunities in mobile payments driven by the proliferation of mobile usage and higher affluence. According to a report by investment banking firm Credit Suisse, digital payments in India currently aggregate just under USD 200 billion, of which mobile payments account for USD 10 billion in 2018. India’s total digital payment market is estimated to grow to USD 1 trillion by 2023 led by the growth in mobile payments.”
MatchMove also explained that tmw will distribute the cards to their retail and corporate customers who can use this open-loop prepaid solution to pay securely at shops, restaurants and any merchants across India where major credit cards are accepted. tmw will also reportedly distribute the cards to large corporates for managing payouts and disbursements with just one click. Vinay Kalantri, Founder & Managing Director, tmw (The Mobile Wallet Pvt. Ltd.), stated:
“Our collaboration with MatchMove makes it possible to let our users experience new age, safe and simple mode of payment. With this latest launch, tmw has marked a significant step towards greater security and speed, and has thus laid the ground work for future innovative products in the prepaid card segment. This launch also further augments our product offering by providing smarter solutions such as digital payout disbursements and open-loop solutions to new segments of our business.”
Kumar Srinivasan, CEO of MatchMove India, added:
“Enabling the first ever contactless prepaid card on Mastercard network in South Asia places us at yet another forefront of the innovation scale. We are heartened to have forged these esteemed partnerships with a common objective of providing secure and convenient payment solutions to users in India. The partnership allows us to capitalize on the enormous untapped opportunities in South Asia and become the region’s leader in moving money digitally.”
MatchMove noted that users in India can download the TMW app from App Store and Google Play, and follow the instructions to activate and start using the card instantly.