More than one billion contactless MasterCard and Maestro transactions were processed in Europe in 2015, up 150% on 2014, with value of transactions increasing by 183%. The number of cards, mobile phones and other devices used to make a contactless transaction grew by 121% in 2015, NFC World reports, while the total number of contactless cards and devices issued rose by 50%. Merchant locations accepting contactless transactions are also up by 72% year-on-year. Globally, MasterCard estimates more than four million merchant locations can accept contactless transactions. More than 10 countries in Europe now have over five million contactless cards or devices in circulation and an average of 13% of in-store transactions in the last quarter of 2015 were contactless. For instance, in the Czech Republic, 77% of all in-store transactions are now contactless, followed by Poland (55%), Hungary (40%) and Slovakia (38%). Locally, the Central Bank of Iran recently initiated contactless payments with the local Shetab system, which is used by most banks.
