Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is using technology from Silicon Valley-based NFC outfit Vivotech for its trial of contactless mobile phone payments, which is being conducted in partnership with MasterCard.
CBA's mobile phone pilot was launched in November at a golf tournament at Huntingdale where around 50 near field communication (NFC)-enabled handsets featuring MasterCard's 'tap and go' contactless PayPass technology were given away to merchants and members of the media.
Participants were encouraged to use the phones to make low-value purchases of up to A$35 at any one of the retailers at the Huntingdale golf course, all of which had specially-equipped terminals.
Vivotech says it supplied NFC mobile phone payment and OTA provisioning software technology for the trial, which is on-going. NFC phones given away at the golf tournament launch can be used throughout the country for payment at any contactless-enabled store.
Lynda McMillan, executive manager, credit cards issuing, CBA, says: "Vivotech's NFC payment solution was selected because of its easy to use wallet interface for users and the company's proven and highly secure OTA provisioning infrastructure to easily manage credit and debit card downloads."
CBA is thought to be the first bank in the country to launch trials of the contactless mobile payment technology.
However, National Australia Bank has revealed plans to work with Visa and wireless operator Telstra on a similar trial in early 2008 which will allow select cardholders in Melbourne to pay for purchases using their hand sets.