As contactless cards continue to grow in issuance, the Bank of America trial will confirm consumer interest in companion devices for contactless payment and solidify plans to offer as an option the MasterCard PayPass application on an NFC-enabled mobile handset. In this trial, Bank of America associates are given the option of NFC-enabled mobile phones, which can be used to purchase items by just waving the phone past a contactless-enabled POS terminal or vending machine. The user acceptance trial program tests consumer interest in different devices, including the Nokia NFC handset as a companion device to traditional credit cards. The payment application for the transactions is stored in a "secure area", a smart card technology-based chip, in the mobile handset. This area is managed by G&D's Secure Chip Management platform.

The Secure Chip Management solution allows the remote upload, activation and personalization of applications and customer data to the mobile phone's secure area. It thus removes the need to load applications and personalize handsets in a specific location. Instead, the management is performed over the air (OTA) using a mobile operator's network. This is a convenience to the subscriber as their handset can be updated wherever they are in the mobile service area.

"G&D's Secure Chip Management Solution allowed Bank of America to create a trial with a true 'go-to' process to personalize the phones, something that has been missing in previous NFC mobile payment tests," said John Suchanec, Senior Vice President of Bank of America. "For any financial institution like Bank of America to offer contactless payment on mobile devices, OTA personalization using a mobile operator's network will be an essential component."

G&D and Nokia have recently formed a joint venture, Venyon, which is responsible for bringing the Secure Chip Management solution to the marketplace. Venyon will support the Bank of America, and other ongoing trials using this service, in the move from trial to commercial launch. Positioned as a trusted third party partner to wireless operators, financial institutions, and application providers, Venyon provides the complete Secure Chip Management solution as a hosted service. It makes the management of contactless applications in mobile phones secure, cost effective and flexible for all parties involved. Besides mobile payment, other applications, such as ticketing, service discovery and access control, can also be managed via the Secure Chip Management platform during their complete lifecycle.