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Spanish bank BBVA is claiming to be the first bank to commercially launch payments with host-card emulation, announcing today an upgrade of its Android mobile-wallet app incorporating Visa’s HCE specifications.

The next major Android upgrade, code-named Android L, includes changes to the way host-card emulation handles default applications for payment, according to a developer preview.

NFC Times Exclusive: Despite the interest in host-card emulation in North America and Europe grabbing the spotlight, there is a good chance that banks and other issuers in Asia-Pacific could generally commercialize the technology first, sources told NFC Times.

Capital One Financial’s vice president of digital commerce has spelled out publicly for the first time why the large U.S. credit card issuer dropped its support for the Isis Wallet and also revealed the bank’s early role with MasterCard Worldwide in developing host-card emulation for payments.

France-based Gemalto, the largest supplier of NFC SIMs globally, says it is not scaling back its projections for shipments of the cards this year, despite delays in orders by European mobile operators and other factors, such as host-card emulation.

France-based Inside Secure has acquired encryption and software security company Metaforic in a cash deal worth at least $11.6 million, which Inside Secure says will help equip it to offer security services for host-card emulation-based mobile payments.

The move to standardize tokens by the major payment networks has broad implications for how mobile commerce, including NFC payments, will be rolled out.

Mid-tier Spanish bank Bankinter finally launched its cloud-based payments using its own host-card emulation-based system, which it developed along with Spain-based Seglan, after much anticipation.