Kazakhstan gets HCE payments

Customers of Kazkommertsbank (KKB) in Kazakhstan can now make host card emulation (HCE) based NFC mobile payments using a new service launched in partnership with Visa.

Kazkommertsbank“To use the service, you need to download and install a special application which is available for mobile devices running Android version 4.4 and higher and [carrying] a built-in NFC chip,” the bank explains. “Now holders of Visa cards issued by KKB can easily and quickly integrate them with their Android smartphone to pay for goods and services, both in Kazakhstan and in other countries where contactless technology is available.”

The bank has more than 5,000 contactless POS terminals in use in supermarkets, restaurants and shops across Kazakhstan and will increase this to 12,000 by the end of 2016. Currently 1% of all the bank’s card transactions are contactless, worth KZT 120m (US$ 335,000) monthly.

“We are taking the first step toward the abandonment of physical plastic and focusing on smartphones as the main means of payments,” says Nurlan Zhagiparov, managing director of Kazkommertsbank. “We want to provide our customers with the most advanced services.”

 

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