EMVCo, the standards body responsible for developing and maintaining the globally recognised EMV payment specifications, is inviting mobile operators, chip and handset manufacturers and application providers to have a voice in its work to standardise a technical infrastructure for mobile payments.

The organisation, jointly owned by MasterCard, Visa, American Express and JCB, says it has already begun working collaboratively with the GSMA, the NFC Forum and GlobalPlatform to define and create an interoperable mobile payments standard. Now it is to host an EMV User Meeting at the end of June in a bid to bring together individual users of the EMV standard — including those involved in developing and implementing mobile payments technology — and senior EMVCo representatives.

Meeting attendees will receive an overview of EMVCo’s mobile payments standardisation work to date and will learn what steps the organisation is taking to help mobile service providers and vendors accommodate payment system requirements when incorporating NFC payment applications into handsets.

Delegates will be encouraged to share feedback on market requirements, which will be used to shape EMVCo’s future mobile payments standardisation strategy and identify both short and long term technical work priorities. The meeting will combine presentations and roundtable discussions to ensure that the event is both educational and interactive.

Dr Nav Bains, senior director of the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile NFC project has been confirmed as one of two keynote speakers at the meeting. His presentation will discuss the importance of cross-industry collaboration to enable and grow mobile payments infrastructure.

The second keynote presentation will be delivered by Claude Brun, vice chair of the European Payments Council, and will address the implementation of the SEPA payments initiative for payment cards based on EMV technology.

“EMVCo has a strong history of engaging with stakeholders in its standards development work,” says Tad Fordyce, chairman of the EMVCo executive committee. “This meeting, where interested parties, such as mobile service providers and vendor organisations, can interact in person with EMVCo representatives is intended to build on that to ensure that future work undertaken towards mobile payments standardisation reflects the needs of the global mobile payments community.”

“In line with EMVCo’s role as a technical standards body, the EMV User Meeting is intended as a forum on technical issues,” the organisation explains. “Mobile payment business models, marketing and sales strategies will not feature on the agenda.”

The meeting will take place at the Sheraton Arabellapark in Munich, Germany on Tuesday 30 June and Wednesday 1 July 2009. Those wishing to attend can book online at the EMVCo website. You will need to have a subscription to EMVCo, which costs US$750 a year, and pay the meeting delegate rate of US$249, if booked by 31 May, or US$495 after that date.

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