At UK Finance, we support innovation for fast, secure and convenient card payments. However, recent developments have removed the tactile features that made bank cards and card machines accessible to visually or sensory impaired customers so that most bank cards are now entirely flat, without embossed (raised) numbers. Similarly, Android-based touchscreens on card machines (without a tactile PIN pad) have reduced acquisition costs and are popular with many merchants. Yet those with visual impairment or dexterity issues find it hard or impossible to input their PIN when required, often causing distress to the customer, but also leading to lost sales for the merchant.  Many of these machines do have accessibility modes, but how many shop staff or visually impaired people know about them or know how to operate them?  

At UK Finance’s Digital Innovation Summit in June, we invited accessibility advocates to consider how the experience of disabled individuals should be reflected in digital payments innovation, particularly in relation to cards.  

Opening our discussion, Dr Elizabeth Blakelock, Accessibility and Inclusion Lead at Monzo, reflected on her lived experience using flat cards and digital wallets for payments. Disabled and partially sighted individuals struggle with the lack of tactile feedback from these newer forms of payments, in her own words: “We are making things easier and more accessible for many but aren’t yet ensuring inclusion for all disabled people.”  

Representing the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), Sabine Croxford shared how from a visually impaired individual’s perspective touchscreen terminals are completely blank and void of information. She emphasised how the absence of a pin pad keyboard has negatively affected blind users’ ability to make everyday payments. 

So, what can we do to ensure inclusivity for card payments is reflected in newer technology? 

One solution offered by our panellists were standards, set by bodies like UK Finance. An existing initiative is the UK Finance Terminal Approval Scheme (UKTAS) which sets out accessibility requirements for card payment terminals. UK Finance is seeking to further promote inclusivity for card payments by partnering with major card issuers and the RNIB on an accessible cards code of practice. The code will adopt the Mastercard Touch core design features of round notches for debit cards and squared notches for credit cards. We are grateful to Mastercard in helping us take their solution to the broader market. In addition, the code will address other accessible features such as colour contrast and font size of text on the reverse of the card. Our panel commended the proposed code as a global cards industry first. 

The second solution which was explored was education. Training shop merchant staff on accessibility modes for touchscreen terminals which are commonly seen as ‘easy’ to operate would hugely help vulnerable users. 

The last solution proposed was to ensure new technology for card payments is inclusive by design. Gary Munro, Vice President of Payments at Consult Hyperion, discussed his collaboration with Worldpay and RNIB in 2017 to design a terminal with built-in accessibility features that didn’t rely on sound and included a unique pin entry mechanism for tactile feedback. Samantha Morgan, founder of Talu Card, further elaborated on the need to focus on vulnerable consumers’ journey and experience when designing new products. Fully biometric solutions and developer apps could make the visually impaired far more independent. Here technology by design solves the need for reasonable adjustments, by placing the user, in control and independently able to do what everyone else can do. 

Closing off our panel, our keynote speaker Lord Holmes offered some poignant, final thoughts on financial inclusion for payments: “Where was lived experience when cards went flat? Where was lived experience when card terminals became fully touchscreen? Work arounds are simply not accessible or driven by user experience. Financial inclusion should run through everything from the outset.” 

Our accessible cards code of practice is being supported by Dr Elizabeth Blakelock, Accessibility and Inclusion Lead at Monzo, Sabine Croxford, Senior Product Manager at RNIB, Nicola Cornwell, Head of Strategic Accounts and Partnerships at RNIB.  

Watch this space for our upcoming discussion paper on accessibility in card payments where we will consider many of these issues. We will engage a diverse range of stakeholders including government, regulators, policy makers, the third sector, manufacturers, payment companies, banks and retailers and merchants to provide feedback, and then we will issue a white paper later this year, with findings and recommendations.