NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Another major Australian bank, ANZ, has launched mobile payments with host card emulation, meaning that three of the country’s big four banks have now launched mobile payments using HCE for their customers packing Android phones.
The launch of ANZ Mobile Pay follows a similar launch by National Australia Bank, or NAB, late last month, of NAB Pay. No. 1 Commonwealth Bank of Australia launched HCE nearly a year ago. And while rival Westpac is the only one of the big four banks that hasn’t yet launched HCE, it has launched mobile payments from its Android banking app using an embedded secure element in high-end Samsung smartphones. Westpac is probably working on HCE, as well, but it touts the added security benefits of using a secure element with the Samsung phones.
Meanwhile, all of the big four have held out against Apple Pay, both for their Visa- and MasterCard-branded cards and their cards carrying the American Express brand. Sources earlier said the banks have been rejecting Apple’s request for a cut of transaction fees, so Apple has only launched Apple Pay in Australia with cards issued by AmEx itself.
