Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, has granted approval to roll out contactless credit cards to enable quick transactions at the point-of-sale (PoS) without the need for signature or PIN.

The contactless cards will feature near field communication (NFC) technology to ensure security and can be used to tap-and-pay at all PoS terminals having compatible readers.

The central bank also issued a ceiling of BDT3,000 ($35.3) on contactless card payment to ensure fraud reduction in case of loss or theft.

To facilitate authentication for transactions above the specified limit, the cards come with the EMV chip and magnetic stripes.

MasterCard and Visa provided the local banks with the technology to allow launch of NFC-enabled cards from September this year.

Bangladesh Bank advised issuing banks to not activate NFC transaction in cards without customers’ consent.

The bank further asked banks to display ‘contactless logo’ on NFC cards, PoS terminals and at merchant points in order to create awareness and differentiate the points accepting NFC cards from others.