Called Visa Wave, the new "contactless" smart card will mean shoppers no longer have to sign or key in a PIN when paying, reducing the time at the till to just 15 seconds.

By holding the Visa Wave card at a close range from a reader, the card is detected and the transaction processed without physical swipes.

According to research, paying with a regular card takes an average of 24 seconds, while paying by cash takes 34 seconds.

Visa Asia Pacific wants to introduce the chip system in nine months at retail shops, supermarkets, hypermarkets, malls or locations where most transactions are under Bt1,000 and traffic is heavy.

"Like buying a burger, the card can be tapped at the machine. Then, the cardholder can leave the shop right away without any signature requirement when using a credit card," said Peter Manners, head of the contactless business for Visa Asia Pacific.

The company hopes to have all of its cards embedded with the contactless chip by the end of next year.

To that end, one card can offer two services.

Somboon Krobteeranon, Visa country manager, said they have not decided which cards will carry the new feature. "It can be the debit card, credit card or prepaid card. We have to work it out with the banks first."

The credit card company has already introduced the system in Taiwan and Malaysia.

Visa is in the process of developing the software and preparing the equipment for the Thai launch.

At the end of March, Visa had about 6 million cardholders, clocking up a total of Bt91 billion on their cards since January.

The company hopes Visa Wave will boost domestic use of Visa cards.

Piyarat Setthasiriphaiboon

The Nation