Mastercard expands Google Pay service in Europe

By Megha Bhattacharya

Mastercard announced that it will be expanding the Google Pay service to cardholders across Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, and Romania together with its issuing partners. Users with eligible Android devices will now be able to leverage Google Pay and make purchases in stores and online along with the option of contactless payments.

The service will be provided in cooperation with various issuers and FinTechs including but not limited to Banca Transilvania, Bunq, CEC Bank, Curve, LHV Pank, Monese, N26, Paynetics, Revolut, Swedbank, Unicredit Bank Romania, and Viva Wallet.

Milan Gauder, Executive Vice President of Product and Innovation, Europe at Mastercard noted, “Delivering choice and innovation in payments is an important part of how we improve people’s everyday life. With hygiene becoming a high priority for many people, we want to make sure that we continue to deliver innovative solutions for touch-free payments. Today’s rollout empowers customers to pick the most convenient and safest method of payment that fits their need at any particular moment. To that end we are delighted to join forces with Google to provide the people we serve some ease, speed and peace of mind.”

Mastercard stated that Android users can select the ‘Add to Google Pay’ button within the participating mobile banking apps in order to add their Mastercard to Google Pay. After adding their Mastercard, they will be able to access all the benefits that come with Google Pay via their banking app.

“More than ever, people are keen to use simple and secure solutions to pay online and contactless in stores. Thanks to the close collaboration with Mastercard, cardholders of participating partners in 10 new European countries will be able to use Google Pay through their respective mobile banking apps. We hope everyone will enjoy the benefits that come with using their Android phone to pay in millions of places around the world” added Florence Diss, Head of Payments Partnerships, Google.