Near Field Communications Handsets and Tags, NFC Pilots and Projects

Irish banks eye NFC, contactless cards

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Irish banks are considering offering support for mobile payment using NFC technology, according to the Irish Examiner.

Representatives from Visa Europe are meeting with banks in Dublin this week to negotiate a deal that would bring the technology to Ireland. Plans are expected to be finalized by 2011.


Visa Europe is also working on Irish banks to adopt a new contactless debit cards for purchases under €20. According to Visa, the cards are ideal for use in fast food restaurants, convenience stores, transport terminals, vending machines and parking meters.

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Reportlinker.com has released a market research report on the use of contactless payment stickers in place of built-in NFC phones to make mobile payments.

The report,”Making Contactless Payments Sticky with Stickers,” identifies the key market drivers for contactless stickers and the issues that must be overcome to make them a real, viable solution in the hands of consumers.

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Retailers in the UK are lobbying for emerging payment technology, viz. contactless payment, to be cheaper to process than current debit and credit cards, which are running them hundreds of millions of pounds in processing fees a year, according to The Register.

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Banks are placing excessive levies on retailers who accept payment via plastic and the new UK government should intervene, says British Retail Consortium director general Stephen Robertson.

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Visa Europe has announced plans to spend more than $273 million on R&D for contactless payments via card and mobile device, according to nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com

The announcement was made by Marc O’Brien, Visa Europe’s head of UK and Ireland, during a visit to Dublin to market contactless cards and NFC payment to Irish banks.

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Dublin will see a new integrated smart card ticketing system by early next year, according to The Irish Times.

The the €55 million project will start with a smart card rollout for the Luas and Dublin Bus services, to be joined later by Irish Rail, private bus operators and Bus Éireann.

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Despite recent moves into mobile payment by giants such as Bank of America and Visa, US merchants may be hesitant to adopt the new technology, according to analysts at Reuters.

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