Card payments now possible on Tristan
Report and photos from Administrator Philip Kendall
During my time on island, I have used the term "game changing" many times, from high-speed internet to solar energy. The card machines also fall into this category. The ability to take credit card payments from tourists and other visitors means that they aren’t limited by the amount of cash they carry, which is often not very much.
FCDO Desk Officer, Charles Wickham with Lorraine Repetto, Head of the Treasury Department makes the first ever card payment on Tristan on the 5th November 2025.
A big thank you must go to Chief Finance Officer Paul Mapasure, who has persevered for the best part of two years to get the banks to recognise the need and offer us the facility to take the payments. Thanks too, to FCDO Desk Officer, Charles Wickham, for bringing the two card machines with him when he arrived last week.
We only have two machines for now, as we want to test them and make sure they work for us. The early indications are good and we have taken payments from various types of card, both with a PIN and contactless. I even used Apple Pay on my phone (other mobile payment options are available) to buy my lunch on Wednesday, and I heard that one of the visitors made a contactless payment using his watch.
Iris and Rachel Green open for card payments in the café at the Post Office and Tourism Centre
Like most modern payment systems, this comes at a cost to us, hence the 5% service charge which we are passing on to the customer.
At the moment we have the facility only in Tourism and the Post Office but hope to roll it out further once we are happy that it works.