A trial of MasterCard's contactless EMV card payments technology at select McDonald's restaurants in Switzerland has been launched, with Christa Rigozzi, the current Miss Switzerland, making the first transaction.
Rigozzi made the first contactless purchase at the McDonald's restaurant Zurich Stadelhofen using the OneSmart MasterCard.
The pilot has been organised by Swiss card issuer Aduno and will allow 1000 MasterCard customers to use the contactless PayPass system to pay for purchases under EUR25 at selected merchants in Zurich, Lausanne and Lugano.
Toni Merschen, global head of chip, MasterCard Worldwide, says that the Swiss pilot is an "important landmark on our journey to extend contactless payments across Europe and replace cumbersome cash with speed, convenience and security".
Following the initial pilot phase, the market launch of MasterCard PayPass in Switzerland is planned for later this year.
McDonald's began accepting MasterCard's contactless payments card scheme at select restaurants in the US in 2004. The Fast food chain is also rolling out PayPass-enabled terminals at its reaustrants in Mexico.
MasterCard says that nearly 13 million PayPass contactless cards are now in circulation and can be used at over 46,000 retail locations, including Starbucks, 7-Eleven, CVS, Duane Reade, Sheetz and Regal Entertainment Group.