CBJ sets new ceiling for contactless payments

AMMAN — The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has allowed all banks operating in the Kingdom and e-payment companies to set a new ceiling for contactless payments, where the value of one transaction should not exceed JD100 and the total value of transactions per day should not exceed JD300. 

The CBJ said that clients have the right to set the maximum limit for one contactless payment or the total per day through mechanisms offered by banks and companies issuing payment tools, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

The decision was made in response to the needs of the Jordanian market and consumer demands, as well as giving more flexibility in executing payments using electronic tools that support contactless features, especially in light of clients’ heavy reliance on such methods, especially for payments outside the Kingdom.

CBJ Governor Adel Sharkas said that contactless payments in the Kingdom have witnessed "unprecedented growth" after the Central Bank, in late 2020, obliged all banks and e-payment companies not to issue cards and not to use points of sale (POS) devices that do not support contactless features.

Sharkas also said that the CBJ also directed banks and e-payment companies to replace all cards of clients and POS devices of merchants with new ones that support contactless features.

The governor also said that the number of payment cards issued in the Jordanian market exceeded 5.7 million by the end of 2022, all of which support contactless payments, where e-payments for the commercial sector could be made through more than 69,000 points of sale across the Kingdom.

He added that the total value of contactless payments made in the Jordanian market in 2022 amounted to JD1.4 billion, or 37 per cent of the total value of e-payments.