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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Barclays has no current plans to support Google’s Android Pay service or Samsung Pay because by adding the Contactless Mobile functionality to the Barclays Mobile Banking app, the company “removed the need to do something else,” a Barclays spokeswoman confirmed to NFC Times.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Barclaycard, one of the top payment card issuers in the UK, plans to launch NFC payments from its mobile-banking app in November using host card emulation, which will allow the issuer to avoid putting its payment applications on secure elements to roll out mobile payments.

While the UK’s top UK contactless issuer, Barclays, and its credit card arm, Barclaycard, predict a doubling of contactless transactions this year, numbers remain relatively small, with even the most active users tapping just over four times a month, a spokesman for the issuer confirmed to NFC Times.

Orange UK and Barclaycard have announced the availability of the popular Samsung Galaxy S III for their Quick Tap NFC payment service, as they seek to spur interest in their as yet little-used service.

Farhan Ahmad, who headed U.S.-based Discover Financial Services’ prepaid and emerging payments units, including its nascent NFC and contactless programs, has left Discover for UK-based issuer Barclaycard, NFC Times has learned.

Despite the coming availability of more NFC phones from its partner Orange and the opening up of its prepaid mobile-payment application to funding from other issuers, UK-based Barclaycard has decided it needs more exposure for its contactless m-payment service.

UK-based payment card issuer and acquirer Barclaycard has joined the NFC Forum as a sponsor member, giving it a seat on the board of the standards and trade group, the forum announced today.

A growing number of UK consumers, 44%, recognize the contactless logo at the point of sale, according to a recent survey by Barclays bank and its acquiring and credit card arm, Barclaycard.

Contactless payment continues to grow rapidly in the United Kingdom, but transaction volume is still low, and it remains open to debate whether 2011 will be a tipping point for the technology.

Mobile operator Orange UK and payment issuer Barclaycard face challenges as they seek to get their “Quick Tap” service off the ground, say UK analysts.