Citizens plans 'touch-and-go' cards

Citizens Bank plans to add a touch-and-go payment option to all its debit cards by June, allowing customers to complete transactions by tapping their card against an electronic reader instead of swiping it and signing a receipt.

The plan by the region's second-largest bank provides a big boost to the emerging technology, which credit card companies say will reduce the amount of time consumers spend in lines. Citizens is expected to unveil the switch today.

''This will allow you to get through the checkout faster, with more convenience," said Lisa Stanton, Citizens' senior vice president of card products and ATMs.

It also could be a moneymaker for banks. Touch-and-go cards work best at fast-food restaurants, movie theaters, drug stores, and other locations where transactions typically involve small, inexpensive items paid for in cash. If many of those customers switch to paying by card, it could add up: Card companies and banks make a small profit every time a debit card is used.

Citizens, headquartered in Providence, is the first major bank in New England to issue touch-and-go cards to all of its customers, though three of the region's other big banks -- Bank of America Corp., Sovereign Bank, and TD Banknorth Inc. -- are considering it. Nationally, other large banks -- including HSBC, KeyBank, JP Morgan Chase, and Citigroup -- offer the technology to some customers. Bank of America, the region's largest bank by market share, inherited some cards with the technology in its recent acquisition of credit card issuer MBNA Corp. and is testing them at sports stadiums and other locations around the country.

So far, the touch-and-go system works at only a handful of stores in New England, including CVS Corp., McDonald's, and AMC Theatres, but credit card companies hope to entice more merchants to install the readers soon. The idea is also spreading to more unconventional places: MasterCard, which backs the Citizens cards and calls its technology PayPass, recently unveiled plans to conduct a trial of the payment system with the New York City public transit system. Visa is testing the idea of allowing people to make payments by cellphone for payments and might configure touch-and-go cards to work with vending machines so customers don't have to fish for change.

Some gas stations also accept a wand, which hangs on a key ring, that lets customers pay by waving it near a reader, a technology similar to touch-and-go debit cards.

The new Citizens cards look similar to traditional debit cards and still will work by being swiped. But at stores that accept touch-and-go, customers can simply touch their cards to the reader, wait for it to light up, and the payment will process automatically. If they spend less than $25, they do not have to hand over their cards to the store clerk or sign a receipt.

American Express estimates that customers will cut their transaction time by more than half, from 33.7 seconds with cash, to 12.5 seconds. The company's ExpressPay is embedded in blue and clear lines of cards and available to customers who order new cards or renew old ones.

Sports venues are embracing the technology as well, including Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Phillies. It hopes to move customers through concession lines faster and back to their seats to watch the game. Some stadiums even have created special lines for people with the speedy cards, said Cathleen Conforti, MasterCard's senior vice president global PayPass product manager.

''You only have four quarters for the customer to get up in the line, get food, and get back in their seats," she said.

Citizens customers who order a new debit card will receive the technology now. Others will receive new cards in the mail starting in March and ending in June. Customers will not have to change their PINs, and their card numbers will not change, but they will be asked to activate the new cards.

Sasha Talcott can be reached at stalcott@globe.com.