Monitise Launches NFC Payments and Ticketing Platform

According to the company, "the service integrates to Monitise’s live multi-bank, multi mobile operator mobile banking and payments ecosystems (MONILINK in the UK and Monitise Americas in North America) providing a delivery framework for contactless ‘touch and go’ payments using the mobile handset. By allowing banks, mobile operators, card schemes and merchants to collaborate within a single environment, the MoniTrust platform brings mobile contactless payments a step closer for global consumers."

Richard Johnson, Monitise Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, said: 'Consumers are already starting to enjoy the convenience of both managing their bank accounts and cards from their mobile phone, and making ‘remote’ payments such as account transfers, paying bills, peer-to-peer and remittance payments. When NFC-enabled handsets become available to the mass market, consumers will need to be able to manage their ‘proximity’ activity alongside their existing 'remote' activity. MoniTrust provides the mechanism for this transition to happen seamlessly for all service providers and, most importantly, for consumers. We have been delighted with the level of interest from our partners and look forward to announcing the first live implementations of MoniTrust over the coming months.'

Through a single connection to MoniTrust's open platform, participants can enable their consumers to manage their bank accounts, card accounts, mobile wallets, transport and ticketing applications in the 'beep and go' environment in a consistent way which maintains the highest standards of usability and security - whether it is requesting a card to be loaded onto your mobile, checking a balance before making a contactless payment, paying for a travel season-ticket from a bank account and loading it into your mobile, or topping up a child’s school meal allowance on their mobile.

Furthermore, MoniTrust's unique approach gives consumers the convenience of managing their NFC accounts alongside their non-proximity accounts and payments - a truly customer-centric approach for the mass market. MoniTrust achieves this by providing an aggregated connection hub for consumer service providers (such as banks, card issuers, mobile operators, transport schemes) and key technical enablers such as Secure Domain Managers.

Liisa Kanniainen, Executive Director of the Mobey Forum, the global association devoted to the promotion of mobile technology in financial services added: "We have completed an extensive evaluation on the future development of mobile financial services and one of the main findings was that a combination of NFC and mobile banking services is likely to result in a better business case for all. Products that enable banks to offer these services based on mutually beneficial co-operation with mobile operators are to be welcomed."