Mizuho has begun research and development on the creation of a platform for secure payments using IoT devices such as smart home kits, connected cars, and wearables.
The Japanese bank says it will work with Soracom, a Tokyo-based startup that provides a communication platform for developers of connected devices on the project. The aim is to use Soracom Air - a SIM card tailored for IoT devices that can be managed through an APIs dashboard - as the underlying technology to connect to the bank's internal systems.
The first project out of the lab will be a collaboration with cash registry and secure payment outfit Liquid Inc to enable bank transfers and balance enquiries at the Liquid Regi payment terminal via the use of fingerprint sensors.
"The results of this trial will enable us to identify issues and potential applications for IoT device-based services utilising banking APIs," says Mizuho.
Further cross-industry IoT collaborations will be managed out of the bank's recently opened Creation Studio, established within the Fintech Center of Tokyo Finolab.
A recent forecast from Gartner projects that that 8.4 billion connected applictions will be in use worldwide in 2017, up 31% from 2016, and will reach 20.4 billion by 2020.