National Australia Bank is testing 'tap'on-phone' software as an alternative to physical payment terminals for small business customers.
The Australian bank is partnering with Visa and Quest Payment Systems on the trial.
NAB executive general manager, transaction banking, Andy Kerr, says: “Since the introduction of tap-and-go payments, Australians are carrying less and less cash which can impact sales and growth for small businesses. We’ve heard loud and clear from our customers that they want access to payment technology without the additional hardware associated with a traditional POS terminal.
"This pilot will address the current gap where businesses aren’t big enough to need a POS terminal but are established enough to accept contactless card payments."
He says the new service, which runs on the bank's mobile app, will be rolled out to users in the coming months.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced plans last year to introduce an equivalent service using a white label version of Mobeewave's SoftPOS technology and Digital Enablement tech from Idemia.
Dutch bank ING last month also commenced a pilot conducted in conjunction with Mastercard of a similar software-based 'tap on phone' app, which transforms mobile devices into point-of-sale terminals.
The app, which poses a threat to the dongle-dependent mPOS technology of firms like Square as it requires no additional hardware plug ins to accept payments, is currently undergoing testing with 200 small businesses in Istanbul.