Bankers who thought they would have to put their applications onto SIM cards in NFC phones to offer mobile-contactless payment should think again, according to the Mobey Forum, a bank-led association that has issued a report describing four alternatives to the SIM for supporting payment applications in phones.
The new report, “Alternatives for Banks to Offer Secure Mobile Payments,” describes the pros and cons of the SIM as well as other secure chips, which could host banking applications in handsets. Those chips, called secure elements, can also be found in contactless stickers, microSD cards, and embedded in NFC phones or embedded or linked to a secure area in the phone’s central processing unit, notes the association.
“During the past few years and especially during the past six to 12 months, the maturity and variety of secure options offered by the market players really has grown,” Mobey Forum executive director Liisa Kanniainen told NFC Times. “Today, the banks have several real options when considering launch of mobile contactless payments or other services requiring an SE (secure element).”
