Contactless card limits in 11 countries in MENA and Central Asia 2020
Contactless card limits increased across several countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia in 2020, as a response to COVID-19. By increasing this so-called standardized cardholder verification method (CVM) limit, the idea is that higher value transactions go through without the need of physically using a PIN code or other method to verify the identity of the cardholder. The source notes that a country like Pakistan even introduced contactless card payments for the first time in 2020.