The Mobile Payments Forum claims to have recruited 45 new members from the financial services, telecomms and technology sectors since its launch by leading card associations in November last year.
The Forum was created as a cross industry group to enable secure, user-friendly mobile payment transactions independent of device, network operator or financial services provider. It is the second of three similar bodies to target this space, after the bank-backed Mobey Forum and the tech-sector's PayCircle consortium
Among the new Forum members are Abbey National, Accenture, Cartes Bancaires, Compaq, DataCard Group, J.P. Morgan Chase, Korea Telecom Freetel, Interpay Nederland, Microcell i5, Mobipay International, On Air Commerce, Sonera, and Vodafone. They join founding institutions, American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.
"The Mobile Payment Forum's membership base reflects the importance that has been placed on broad cross-industry cooperation within the organisation," says Joe Chouinard, co-president of the Mobile Payment Forum. "With a mobile infrastructure comprised of diverse network and device technologies, it is essential that major m-commerce players are involved in the development of a practical foundation for secure mobile payments. The contribution of these new members will be crucial in achieving the Forum's goals quickly and efficiently."
The Forum's first plenary session will be held on February 27 and 28 in Genval, Belgium, and will be open to all Forum members. At this meeting, the Forum will elect committee chairs, establish working groups and commence work. Specific first-year deliverables will focus on cardholder authentication, general device security, transport security and consumer convenience and usability.