[LINK] itNews: 'Westpac trials contactless mobile payments'

[Roger Clarke]

[Another measure designed to reduce the security of consumers' money.

[Barely a mention of security and risk factors anywhere to be seen.
Never let negative factors enter into a marketing spiel.]

Westpac trials contactless mobile payments
Chris Jager
Aug 7, 2012 7:00 AM (1 hour ago)
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/311046,westpac-trials-contactless-mobile-payments.aspx

Takes on Kaching with Android app.

Westpac has embarked on its second contactless mobile payments trial, 
inviting about 100 staff and partners to pay for items by swiping 
their Android devices across contactless credit card readers.

The bank today unveiled a pilot application, designed for Android 
phones with in-built near field communications (NFC) capabilities.

Users would be able to make contactless payments from their Debit 
MasterCard accounts via a secure element embedded in the SIM card.

"Effectively, we put the Westpac Debit MasterCard details [of the 
customer] into the SIM card of the phone which means it can be used 
anywhere that contactless payments are accepted," said Axel 
Boye-Moller, Westpac's head of mortgages, cards and merchants.

"Because it goes inside the phone, there's no additional bridging 
technology or plug-in hardware required," he told iTnews.

Boye-Moller said the bank was trialling the pilot app with "100 or 
so" participants, including internal Westpac staff members and select 
business partners.

Those participating in the pilot will be able to provide the bank 
with instant feedback through the app, to inform the design of the 
final product.

The pilot app is also being used to test related customer services, 
such as mobile payment security issues.

"If someone loses their phone, for example, we can cancel the details 
on the phone without cancelling the plastic card that the customer 
uses to access that bank account," Boye-Moller said.

Boye-Moller said application was a "contactless phone" version of 
Mastercard's PayPass credit cards, and was intended to replace the 
"piece of plastic" at the point of sale.

He added that Westpac had been in discussions with MasterCard about 
the application for "quite some time".

No hardware attachments

Boye-Moller suggested that the bank had decided to develop a 
contactless Android application so it would function on NFC-enabled 
devices -- including the Samsung Galaxy S III -- without requiring 
"any plug-in hardware or cases".

Last May, Westpac trialled contactless mobile payments via what it 
described as a "bridging solution", for which 50 users put 
microchipped stickers on the backs of their phones.

The Commonwealth Bank's flagship Kaching mobile payments app has 
allowed iPhone 4 and 4S users to make contactless payments through 
iCarte 420 attachment since late last year.

But CommBank has yet to enable contactless payments on the Android 
version of Kaching, launched last month, claiming that the feature 
would be made available "once the respective handset and software 
vendors make that functionality available to the market".


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University