Mobile payments wave driven by maturing technology infrastructure and increasing use of NFC-enabled mobile devices
Dubai, UAE, July 11, 2012 - Making payments with a Near Field Communications (NFC) enabled mobile phone is expected to grow significantly as mobile technologies become more advanced and the infrastructure to support NFC payments falls into place. NFC technology is increasingly being adopted by payment networks, banks, merchants, mobile device manufacturers and mobile network operators as the global standard for mobile payments. This year, analysts anticipate that smart phone shipments will grow by over 38.6%[1] year-on-year, reflecting the increasingly interactive relationship consumers have with their phones.
"NFC technology is transforming mobile phones into payment devices that will change the way people live, work and play," said said Niki Manby, Head of Emerging Products for Visa Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (APCEMEA), "NFC payments has enormous potential and we are committed to providing the convenience of this technology in a secure manner to our customers."
There is an undeniable demand for contactless transactions using the mobile phone. Juniper Research predicts that NFC mobile payments are set to exceed $180 billion worldwide in 2017[2]. Visa is committed to enabling more consumers to make payments from their phones to a contactless terminal securely and efficiently. Visa has played a leadership role in establishing global standards for mobile payments by making sure that they are aligned with existing technology and security standards for chip payment cards, and can be integrated easily into the existing payments ecosystem.
In the Middle East, Visa has worked closely with mobile network operators, handset manufacturers and financial institutions, merchants and technology providers to develop and commercialize mobile payments and related services.
In Kuwait, for example, Visa partnered with National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) and Zain to deliver the region's first NFC mobile payment trial, in a move that gave up to 350 NBK Visa cardholders the convenience and security of paying for their purchases using Visa PayWave on their Nokia 6212 phones at over 70 merchant partner outlets in The Avenues, Kuwait's largest mall.
In the UAE meanwhile, Visa is working together with leading industry players Etisalat and Emirates NBD on a mobile contactless technology trial, enabling Emirates NBD Visa cardholders to purchase goods and services with their NFC-enabled mobile phones, with purchases charged directly to the customer's Emirates NBD Visa credit card account.
Visa's commitment to driving NFC acceptance across the region is paving the way for mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators and retailers to partner with financial institutions to offer Visa mobile payment functionality to consumers globally.
In order to make NFC-based payments an everyday reality, three components of the NFC ecosystem need to be in place - compatible handsets and hardware, a viable support infrastructure, and a well-established contactless payment acceptance infrastructure. Visa is working closely with industry partners to develop a robust ecosystem which will enable consumers to make payments faster and more conveniently.
Handset development and availability
The development of NFC-enabled hardware, payment applications and convenient user interface applications will be at the forefront of contactless mobile payments. Visa's payWave acceptance technology uses industry standards such as ISO 14443, EMV and Global Platform that are compatible with existing contactless (NFC) payments terminals already installed at retail outlets worldwide.
Infrastructure to support the development of NFC
Earlier this year, Visa announced a new service, Visa Mobile Provisioning Solutions, that provides financial institutions and mobile network operators a one-stop solution to securely download payment account information to NFC-enabled smartphones. This new service was developed in collaboration with Oberthur, a leading Trusted Service Management company whose software and platforms are used to manage the provisioning and activation of payment accounts on cards and mobile devices. This enables mobile operators and financial institutions to move quickly into a growing market for mobile payments and provide this service to their customers. In addition, Visa is working with various telecommunications operators around the world to ensure that mobile payments are supported on their networks.
Contactless payment acceptance infrastructure
The biggest challenge for the development of NFC is establishing critical mass among consumers and merchants. A complex ecosystem is required to enable contactless payments, and Visa is working closely with merchants, acquirers and mass transit operators to increase acceptance of this payment method at the point of sale, as well as with banks to issue contactless cards and NFC enabled mobile devices.
Visa has been a global leader in advancing NFC and has taken a leadership role in the industry bodies that have helped to standardize the technology in creating global acceptance and interoperability. Ms. Manby said, "Visa is commercially-ready to support mobile operators and financial institutions with the roll-out of NFC-based payment. We have moved the technology from pilots into actual commercial readiness and are optimistic that consumers will make payments on-the-go with just a wave of their mobile phones this year."
To find out about other news from Visa, please visit www.visacemea.com/press.
About Visa
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks--VisaNet--that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
Contact:
Visa: Mia Lehwald, DABO & CO - Tel: +971 4 344 4901 or email: visateam@daboandco.com
[1] Android Expected to Reach Its Peak This Year as Mobile Phone Shipments Slow, According to IDC, International Data Corporation (IDC), 6 Jun 2012
[2] Press Release: More than 1 in 4 Mobile Users in the US and Western Europe will pay in-store using NFC by 2017, Juniper Research, 30 May 2012
© Press Release 2012
