Fitbit Pay promotes contactless payments

First Investment Bank, Fitbit and Visa of Bulgaria are giving customers the ability to pay for purchases by waving their watches over terminals after adding Fibank-issued Visa cards to their compatible Fitbit wearable devices, according to a press release.

Fitbit Pay is available on Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Versa family of smartwatches, Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit Charge 4 and Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition. By following information in the Fitbit app on Android or iOS, users can add their Fibank cards to their Fitbit Wallets.

To make payments, consumers press and hold the left side button until their Fibank cards appear on their screens, then hold the devices near a payment terminal until a confirmation of payment appears.

The users choose a protected PIN during device set-up for an additional level of security, and Visa's tokenization technology keeps e-commerce purchase secure by replacing consumer accounts with a unique digital identifier or "token" used specifically for each device. Account and card data are never shared.

"Fibank is pleased to be the first Bulgarian bank to offer Fitbit Pay to its customers," Nikola Bakalov, CEO and chair of the management board of Fibank, said in the release. "Over the years, we have consistently set innovation in every area of banking as our priority. We offered the first contactless cards and introduced mobile payments using smartphones and watches, previously unknown to the local market. Given the situation that 2020 has put us in, we will continue to work for the convenience and security of our customers, and will soon surprise them with even more new services."