US Bank begins testing microSD based NFC payments service

US Bank
US BANK: Employee pilot starts now, with customers trying NFC next year

US Bank has begun a field trial of microSD format NFC devices. Employees in a number of US states will begin piloting the technology this month and plans call for the trial to be opened up to selected customers next year.

US bank has partnered for the trial with Visa, DeviceFidelity, payments processing provider FIS and Monitise — which earlier this week announced the formation of a joint venture with Best Buy Europe and Charles Dunstone, founder of mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, to introduce a new mobile payments service called Mobile Money Network.

“Our customers have told us that they want to mobilize their accounts with us — they want to make payments with their mobile device and this is a natural extension of our existing banking relationship,” says Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for US Bank Retail Payment Solutions. “As their trusted financial services provider, we’re already offering convenient mobile account access. Now we’re adding contactless payment capabilities to their existing mobile device.”

DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay NFC microSD cards are designed to be distributed to customers using a card issuer’s existing personalisation and distribution infrastructure and can include multiple applications such as payments and transit or payments and access control. US Bank says it will be testing the device with several market-leading mobile phones. The mobile payment solution will be password protected and it will be possible to immediately disable the device if a phone is lost or stolen.

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