Australia’s largest credit union, CUA, is the first financial institution in Asia-Pacific to commercially launch mobile payments using host-card emulation, announcing the move today in Australia.
As NFC Times reported in June, CUA is using a white-label HCE Android app from Australian payments-service provider Cuscal, supporting Visa payWave. Cuscal expects eight to 10 more HCE launches by credit unions and small mutual banks it serves in the next month.
“HCE is a much more attractive proposition than standing up a secure-element based solution,” Adrian Lovney, Cuscal general manager for product and service, told NFC Times, saying Cuscal had also evaluated use of secure elements. “The cost efficiencies (for HCE) are much clearer.”