ORLANDO — The rise of contactless payment may be sending physical transactions, including credit card swipes, toward retirement.

"We do see a day maybe at some point in the future where every transaction will be done digitally," Mastercard (MA) president for the Americas Linda Kirkpatrick told Yahoo Finance at the PGA Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament in Orlando. 

"We're not there yet," Kirkpatrick added. "To bring the most cutting-edge innovation in safety and security tools for consumers [and] for businesses remains a top priority for us."

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Consumers across the globe make use of multiple payment options, Kirkpatrick said, but contactless payments have become more prevalent.

"If you look at our data, 70% of 'card present' transactions around the globe are now done through contactless means — tapping a card or tapping a phone at a turnstile," she said. "So consumers are getting much more comfortable with transacting through digital means, and ... as we see that trend evolving, our investment in safety and security tools becomes even more important."

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The rise in contactless payment has driven the financial payments sector to fortify its digital channels, which remain a large target for cybercriminals and malicious actors.

According to a 2024 CDW cybersecurity report, more financial services companies are adopting zero-trust operations as data breaches that target consumers incur high costs. To that end, Mastercard has deployed $10 billion over the past seven years toward safety and security tools, including the acquisition of threat intelligence company Recorded Future.

Read more: How to protect yourself against credit card fraud — and where you're most at risk

Mastercard also launched tokenization several years ago, "which effectively takes a 16-digit card number and turns it into a dynamic token to make it more difficult for fraudsters to penetrate," Kirkpatrick told Yahoo Finance. "And now we're seeing 30% of our transactions tokenized, so we're laser-focused on creating an environment that's safer and more seamless for consumers."

The end goal is to safeguard transactions and remove friction to allow consumers to be "nimble and choiceful" when making purchases.

"Consumers are looking for value for their dollar, they're looking for good digital experiences, and they're spending on big moments — experiential spending in airlines, in lodging, in restaurants," Kirkpatrick said.

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