Customers will be able to buy products and services more easily and quickly and businesses cut down on the length of their queues thanks to new “tap-and-go” technology launched by HSBC Bermuda.

The bank has joined forces with MasterCard Worldwide to provide HSBC Premier MasterCard with PayPass and the BermudaCard with Mastercard PayPass, which can be used by cardholders to pay for items at merchants who employ the Tap & Go contactless technology through terminals installed in their place of business.

Bermuda is the first country in the Caribbean region to offer the PayPass technology and the latest development in the bank’s 37-year partnership with MasterCard.

The technology works by users paying for purchases under $50 by tapping their cards on the PayPass-enabled reader to make the transaction, with the reader emitting a beep and green lights flashing to indicate the payment has been received.

HSBC Bermuda’s CEO Philip Butterfield, who was at the official launch of the new product at the bank’s Church Street branch, said the implementation of the technology came about as a result of HSBC’s need to identify payment options for its clients to enable them to conduct business more easily.

He said that the process was faster than swiping a card and then signing for it, as well as being highly secure, with applications for use in everywhere from grocery stores, clothing stores and gas stations to fast food outlets and parking meters and plans to roll out the technology across the Island.

Mr. Butterfield said that PayPass had been tested out by a number of vendors over a period of a few months and the results had been positive.

“I think that Tap & Go is the way of the future,” he said.

“The introduction of the BermudaCard with MasterCard PayPass demonstrates HSBC Bermuda’s commitment to providing its customers and merchants with efficient and innovative payment options.

“For customers it offers the convenience and for merchants it allows lines in their place of business to move more quickly.

Marco Castro, head of MasterCard’s Latin America and Caribbean HSBC account team, said use of PayPass would reduce the speed of transactions by 50 percent versus cash and 75 percent compared to other cards.

With 70 million cards in circulation worldwide, including in the US, Mexico and Brazil, and the technology being implemented in more than 200,000 places globally, Bermuda was the perfect market for the new product.

“It is a great pleasure for MasterCard to partner with HSBC Bermuda through the development of unique payment solutions that have proven to make consumers’ lives easier,” he said.

“Cardholders, merchants, and financial institutions around the world have all expressed enthusiasm for MasterCard PayPass and we are confident that HSBC Bermuda cardholders will enjoy the ease and innovation of this new electronic payment method.”

Existing HSBC BermudaCard customers will automatically receive their new cards and new clients can drop into their local branch, contact 299-5959 or visit www.hbsc.bm for more information or to open an account. The website can also be used to track banking account transactions online.

The following merchants will be offering the new PayPass technology: Harrington Hundreds Grocery Store, Esso City Tigermart, Specialty Cinema & Grill, Leisure Time, Hickory Stick, Just Shirts, Sandy’s Esso Service Station, Dowling’s Shell Marine, Platinum Entertainment, Empire Grocery, Juice & Beans, Mr. Chicken/Digicel, House of India, Paraquet, Mailboxes Unlimited, Animal & Garden, Pic A Pet, All Wrapped Up, Secrets, Serpentine Liquors, Liberty Theatre, Card Cove, Pulp & Circumstance, BZS, It’s Only Natural, Hodge Podge, Bermuda Golf Academy, The Outlet, Fedex, Foreign Cargo, Great Things, Telford Electric, English Sports Shop, Marketplace, Family Cleaners, Surprise and Lindo’s.