ABN-AMRO stops contactless payments with passive wearables

Convenient to pay with a key ring or ring? That will soon no longer be possible if you are an ABN-AMRO customer. From April 2023, the bank will no longer be able to make contactless payments with a passive wearable. A passive wearable is, for example, a SwatchPAY! watch, or a wearable from the Mondaine, K-RING, Olympic and LAKS brands.

ABN AMRO

The reason given by the bank is that the use of wearables has fallen considerably in recent years. ABN-AMRO writes: “The use of passive wearables has declined sharply in recent years. More and more customers are opting for contactless payment with Google Pay or Apple Pay. These methods are safe, contactless and easy to use.”

Since December 1, it is no longer possible to link a passive wearable to your digital ABN-AMRO debit card. If you have been able to use this wearable for two years or less, the bank will offer these customers a compensation. The amount of this fee is unknown, but it will be automatically credited to your payment account (the payment account linked to the wearable) in mid-April 2023. If there are multiple wearables, you will be reimbursed for each wearable.

It seems to be a decision that came out of nowhere from the bank: some people have recently received a voucher to purchase new passive wearables. Current vouchers are no longer valid immediately. The bank indicates that only a limited number of customers have used the voucher programme.

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Passive wearables

If you have Garmin Pay or Fitbit Pay at your disposal, you can use it – in addition to Google Pay or Apple Pay – in combination with the matching wearable. For passive wearables from the brands Mondaine, K-RING, Olympic, LAKS and SwatchPAY! however, the curtain will fall on April 1, 2023.

Did you often pay for your purchases with your passive wearable via ABN-AMRO? How do you feel about the bank stopping this now? Leave it in the comments to this article.