NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Two more large Nordic banks, Nordea and Swedbank, have launched contactless payments on analog watches, using technology from Swedish provisioning company Fidesmo that enables consumers to buy the watches and provision them with tokenized Mastercard-branded cards after the sale by tapping the watches on Android NFC phones.
The banks join Sweden-based bank SEB, which launched the service in March with a small Swedish analog watch brand, Triwa. Triwa said more Nordic banks beyond SEB, Nordea and Swedbank would offer the payments service soon. And two additional small Nordic fashion watch brands, Berg and Ur&Penn, have made their watches available for customers of the banks to buy and equip for payments. NFC Times first reported on the service in late February.
While more wearables makers are also expected to support the service, Fidesmo CEO Mattias Eld told NFC Times he could not disclose when these watches would be introduced or name the watch brands. He also would not say when the service would expand to additional countries. It is currently available in two countries, Sweden and Norway.
