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Visa pushes 'smartphone pay' to bridge small-business gaps

Visa’s 'Tap to Phone' tech turns smartphones into payment terminals, removing hardware costs for mobile and small-scale retailers.

Curated by Financing Your Way from original reporting by American Banker — Top News. Summary is AI-assisted and editorially reviewed — see our editorial standards.

Visa is expanding its 'Tap to Phone' technology, allowing small business owners to turn any NFC-enabled smartphone into a point-of-sale terminal. For retailers and mobile service providers, this eliminates the need for expensive external hardware or dongles. You can now accept contactless cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay directly on your phone. This move is designed to lower the barrier to entry for micro-merchants and help established businesses handle overflow traffic during busy periods without buying extra registers. From a financing perspective, this technology bridges the gap for high-ticket service providers—like mobile mechanics or home contractors—who may have previously relied on cash or checks. By standardizing smartphone payments, Visa is making it easier for these merchants to integrate digital payment flows that could eventually support installment offers and point-of-sale financing at the doorstep. The tech is rolling out globally, focusing on markets where cash is still king, but it is rapidly becoming a standard expectation for U.S. consumers who want frictionless checkout everywhere.

Source: American Banker — Top News

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