mFoundry to add NFC to mobile banking

Six hundred US financial institutions that use mFoundry’s mobile banking platform will be able to add NFC payments to their apps, following a deal signed between the technology provider and payments network MasterCard.

Mastercard and mFoundry
PARTNERS: mFoundry and MasterCard

mFoundry has signed a strategic partnership with and received an investment from MasterCard that is set to make it easy for the six hundred US banks and credit unions that use the mobile banking platform provider’s solutions to add NFC payments functionality to their apps.

“Simply put – both companies want to bring mobile payments to more consumers,” says James Anderson, senior vice president of mobile, writing on MasterCard’s The Heart of Commerce blog. “Whether paying for groceries or a cup of coffee — we want more consumers to have the ability to tap and pay for those items with their mobile phone.”

“MasterCard is going to be bringing its mobile PayPass technology and mFoundry is going to be integrating that into its mobile banking offering,” Anderson adds in a video discussion about the deal with Drew Sievers, co-founder and CEO of mFoundry.

“I think the consumer benefit is really going to be about ease of adoption,” Anderson explains. “This is taking it to the next level, which is making it easy for consumers to get access to that functionality from someone they trust — their bank — through a channel that they already use — mobile banking.”

“Our banks are expecting our mobile banking solution to evolve into a mobile payments tool,” Sievers explains. “I think banks in particular are looking to leverage the investment they’ve already made in mobile banking.”

“Consumers are already pre-disposed to looking at their phones three, four, five times a week to check their account balances, their transaction histories, etcetera,” he adds. “Adding mobile PayPass into the existing solution will allow them to now pay at the point of sale and I think it’s going to be very simple for them to do this, much simpler than if they were trying to download a new application.”

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