ANZ Bank: We like NFC, but not via microSD

“At this stage, we will not be progressing with microSD as a contactless payment technology platform,” says the Australian banking giant.

Australia’s ANZ Bank has decided not to pursue microSD format NFC technology, following a recent field trial of the technology, the bank has told ZDNet Australia.

ANZ Bank
ANZ: Australia doesn't like microSD, but New Zealand is still testing

“We have found in our research that our participants strongly supported contactless payment as a convenient way to pay, but the microSD technology did not meet all of our requirements,” the bank told ZDNet. “At this stage, we will not be progressing with microSD as a contactless payment technology platform.”

Overall, however, the bank considers its four week trial to have been a success and plans to continue working on NFC. “We’ve learnt a great deal from the participants about how customers use NFC and the pilot confirmed there is strong customer demand for this type of technology,” says ANZ’s Sam Qubrosi. “One thing is now clear and that is that NFC is here to stay and we’re exploring options on how to move forward.”

Research conducted amongst the fifty participants in the trial found that:

  • Almost 90% of participants said the trial either met or exceeded their expectations.
  • More than 90% said they liked the ability to make purchases using their mobile phone because of the convenience of not having to carry a wallet.
  • All participants said they felt safe when making contactless transactions using their handsets.
  • 90% of participants in the trial foresee a fast uptake in using handsets for contactless payments when the functionality becomes widely available.
  • Cafes and fast food outlets were the stores where participants most commonly made mobile payment purchases.
  • Close to 80% said they would consider getting a Visa payWave enabled microSD if it was commercially available.

Meanwhile, ANZ and MasterCard announced New Zealand’s first trial of NFC payments earlier this month. The internal pilot sees a group of bank staff using contactless stickers or microSD cards for Blackberry phones to enable them to make payments of up to NZ$80 (US$65) using Mastercard PayPass.

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions