Untapped potential in contactless payment rests with LTA

SINGAPORE will soon see a wider rollout of Apple Pay and other contactless payment services, with DBS, UOB, and Standard Chartered already advertising the Apple Pay service on their websites here. Samsung Pay - another form of contactless payment all meant to replace the physical wallet with the phone - is coming soon, too.

But the big leap in contactless payment rests on another giant. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will pilot this year the use of contactless debit or credit cards for commuting. If implemented, it will go some length to refine a fragmented market for contactless payments, fractures which have been needless for a small country with smart nation ambitions.

Contactless payment has been offered in Singapore for a few years, and comes in several forms. There's one charge led by payment companies such as Visa and MasterCard, which allows customers to tap their credit cards on contactless payment terminals. A similar version is led by Singapore's payment system NETS. Starbucks is one retailer offering its own digital stored value card used by caffeine-…