Mastercard and Interswitch launch Google Pay for contactless payments

Mastercard and Interswitch have introduced Google Pay for eligible Mastercard cardholders in Nigeria. The service lets users add supported bank cards to Google Wallet and pay by tapping their Android phones at compatible terminals.

The integration uses Mastercard’s tokenisation technology, which replaces sensitive card data with digital credentials. Interswitch provides the infrastructure that links participating banks to the tokenisation and payment processing systems. Akeem Lawal, managing director of payment, switching and processing at Interswitch, said the work has established the issuer connectivity, tokenisation and payment processing capabilities required for tap‑to‑pay and wallet‑based payments.

Kari Tukur, Mastercard’s country manager for West Africa, said the collaboration gives eligible customers another way to pay while protecting their card details. Unlike bank transfers that need account numbers or banking apps, Google Pay uses near‑field communication (NFC) to transmit payment information when a phone is held near a point‑of‑sale (PoS) terminal.

The launch comes as Nigeria’s digital payments market expands. According to the Nigeria Inter‑Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), instant payment transactions grew to ₦284.9 trillion ($212 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, up 21.5 % from the previous year. PoS infrastructure also grew, with 5.9 million terminals deployed by March 2025, more than double the figure a year earlier, and PoS transaction values reaching ₦10.51 trillion ($7.8 billion) in the same quarter.

Google Pay is not new to the market; Interswitch previously integrated it into its online payment gateway. The current rollout extends access to locally issued cards, adding eligible Mastercard cards from tier‑1 banks such as FirstBank, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank. Users need Android devices with NFC capability to make contactless payments.

Interswitch announced on 26 October that it had partnered with five Nigerian banks, GTBank, Wema Bank, Providus, Unity Bank, Zenith Bank and FirstBank, to support tap‑to‑pay transactions across digital wallets and banking applications, further strengthening the tokenised payment ecosystem.